The Attorney-General’s Chambers filed the notice of appeal on the government’s behalf last Friday.
The government is also seeking a stay of the High Court ruling made on Jan 26 pending disposal of the appeal.
FMT understands the stay is required as the government does not want at least three extradition cases still pending in the sessions court to be struck out.
The filing of the notice of appeal and the stay application was confirmed to FMT by senior federal counsel Shamsul Bolhassan.
“We are waiting for the High Court to fix a date to hear the stay application,” he said.
Businessmen Ling Yang Ching and Wong Ong Hua, who are wanted by the US Department of Justice as part of investigations into a major hacking syndicate, filed a suit in 2021 asking the High Court to determine several constitutional questions on the validity of the extradition law.
Last month, Justice Wan Ahmad Farid Wan Salleh ruled that Sections 4 and 20 of the Act violated the judicial power provision set out in Article 121(1) of the Federal Constitution.
The judge said the Act gave the executive, in the person of the home minister, power to direct the judiciary, that is, the sessions court, in matters pertaining to the issuance of extradition orders.
The judge also declared that the two sections contravened the personal liberties of affected individuals.
Ling and Wong were arrested by Bukit Aman on Sept 14, 2020, after the US government applied for their extradition.
The US government wants them to face charges in the District of Columbia for allegedly running a global hacking operation to steal identities, video game technology and plant ransomware, as well as to spy on Hong Kong activists.
They were produced before a sessions court for the government to secure extradition orders.
In their application to the High Court, they alleged that both provisions of the Extradition Act ran afoul of articles in the constitution that touch on fundamental liberties and judicial power.
Section 4 deals with the power of the home minister to issue a direction to extradite a suspect to a requesting country to face charges, while Section 20 says the court must commit the suspect to detention, pending the minister’s order to surrender him.