This follows the court’s dismissal of an attempt by Wan Ji to refer questions to the Federal Court to challenge the constitutionality of the Sedition Act 1948 following a preliminary objection raised by the prosecution.

A three-member appeals court bench chaired by Justice Vazeer Alam Mydin Meera said they were satisfied that the Court of Appeal had no jurisdiction to refer the legal questions posed by Wan Ji for determination by the apex court.

“We take the position that questions of law could be raised and argued during the appeal as long as the matters were included in the petition of appeal,” said Vazeer, who sat with Justices Azman Abdullah and Azmi Ariffin.

The final appeal has now been fixed on Sept 25.

Earlier, lawyer Faiz Fadzil, who represented Wan Ji, urged the court to refer the legal questions to the apex court.

However, deputy public prosecutor How May Ling objected on grounds that the Court of Appeal only had power to hear appeals and cannot refer matters to the Federal Court.

On April 9, 2018, the sessions court in Shah Alam sentenced the preacher to nine months’ jail after he was found guilty of committing sedition against the sultan of Selangor.

The charge was over a 2012 Facebook post about the ruler, Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah.

Wan Ji appealed against the conviction, while the prosecution cross-appealed the inadequacy of the sentence.

On July 9, 2019, the High Court in Shah Alam enhanced Wan Ji’s jail term to one year.

Wan Ji, a former aide to then finance minister Lim Guan Eng, was charged under Section 4(1)(c) of the Sedition Act, which carries a maximum jail term of three years as well as a maximum fine of RM5,000.

He is currently free after posting bail of RM5,000.