He filed his notice of motion today at the Federal Court registry to seek the apex court’s leave to challenge Sections 59 and 59A of the Immigration Act.
Zunar, whose real name is Zulkiflee SM Anwar Ulhaque, wants to nullify both sections on the grounds that they are unconstitutional and Parliament has no power to pass the two sections as they violated articles on fundamental liberties in the Federal Constitution.
Section 59 does not give a person the right to be heard before the home minister or immigration director-general on any decision by the two while Section 59A stipulated the minister and director-general’s decisions cannot be questioned in court through judicial review.
The High Court last November dismissed his application to lift the travel ban and another application to refer his case directly to the Federal Court.
High Court judge Justice Azizah Nawawi ruled that the court was bound by a Court of Appeal decision in a similar case involving Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua.
Pua failed in July 2016 to have his travel ban lifted at the High Court and that decision was upheld by the Appeals Court last year.
However, the two-term DAP MP was eventually allowed to travel abroad again in October last year.
Besides Pua, electoral watchdog Bersih 2.0 chairman Maria Chin Abdullah also had her challenge against her travel ban dismissed in May last year, but was later allowed to travel again.
Zunar was barred from flying to Singapore to attend a forum there in October 2016.
He currently faces nine sedition charges for allegedly insulting the judiciary over the Sodomy 2 case involving opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim.