A three-member bench chaired by Abdul Karim Abdul Jalil said there were special circumstances to allow Lim Li Li’s application.

“We have carefully considered the bail application and there are special circumstances to allow it,” said Karim, who sat with Nordin Hassan and See Mee Chun.

The bench, however, imposed conditions pending the disposal of Lim’s appeal scheduled on Oct 12.

Lim, 47, has to post RM20,000 bail in one surety, surrender her passport to the court and provide her permanent residential address.

The sessions court in Kangar found her guilty in 2018 of exploiting Indonesian Ani Maryati, 25, by resorting to threats and violence, an offence under Section 13 of the Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants Act 2007.

Lim is said to have committed the offence at a house in Taman Singgahsana in Padang Besar, Perlis, between November 2017 and February 2018.

She was sentenced to 10 years’ jail and ordered to pay Ani RM4,000 in compensation.

The trial court also ordered her to pay another RM3,000 to the government in prosecution costs.

However, she was freed on RM10,000 bail pending an appeal to the HIgh Court.

In April, the High Court dismissed her appeal against conviction and sentence. It also dismissed her bail application and instead she was sent to the Pokok Sena Prison in Kedah to begin her jail term.

Lawyer A Srimurugan, who represented Lim, submitted today that there was no prejudice to offer bail as she had been attending court during trial and the appeal.

“During the present lockdown, there is no opportunity for her to abscond,” he said, adding that his client was undergoing severe depression while in prison.

Srimurugan said Lim’s liberty could not be restored should her appeal in the Court of Appeal be allowed.

Deputy public prosecutor Nurul Farhana Khalid submitted that bail should be denied because Lim was getting treatment in prison.