The Court of Appeal has granted the prosecution three months to personally serve an appeal notice on former political research assistant Muhammed Yusoff Rawther, who is currently in the United Kingdom.
The appeal relates to the prosecution’s challenge against a High Court decision that acquitted and discharged the 33-year-old in connection with drug trafficking and imitation firearm charges.
A three-member panel led by Judge Datuk Azman Abdullah ruled on Monday that before the appeal could proceed, the prosecution must first ensure that the notice of appeal is personally served on Muhammed Yusoff, who is the respondent in the case.
The court noted that it had reviewed a letter from Muhammed Yusoff stating that his passport was being held by UK authorities and that he had applied for asylum on human rights grounds.
According to Azman, both the prosecution and the respondent agreed that personal service of the notice was a mandatory requirement under Section 314 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC).
However, the court ruled that merely proving the respondent was aware of the appeal proceedings was insufficient to justify conducting the hearing through an online platform such as Zoom.
“The appellant must take the necessary and reasonable steps to ensure personal service of the notice is carried out,” Azman said.
The court subsequently fixed Sept 8 for a case management session to update the court on efforts to serve the notice before deciding whether the appeal can proceed.
The panel also comprised Judges Datuk Mohd Radzi Abdul Hamid and K Muniandy.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Mohd Asnawi Abu Hanipah told the court that the prosecution had only recently been informed through a letter that Muhammed Yusoff was unable to attend court because he was overseas.
He said the Attorney General’s Chambers had filed the appeal on June 16 last year and immediately sought police assistance to locate the respondent.
According to him, attempts to personally serve the notice were made two weeks ago after an appeal hearing date was obtained, but those efforts were unsuccessful.
The prosecution proposed that the appeal be conducted online, with Muhammed Yusoff participating remotely.
Meanwhile, defence lawyer Muhammad Rafique Rashid Ali acknowledged that the notice had not been personally served on his client.
However, he said Muhammed Yusoff had no objection to the appeal proceeding online and was already aware of the appeal and related case management dates.
Rafique said his client left Malaysia in the middle of last year and that he only became aware of the asylum application on June 1.
“In order to obtain asylum, he had to surrender his passport to the UK authorities, making it impossible for him to return to Malaysia using that travel document,” he said.
On June 12, 2025, the High Court in Kuala Lumpur acquitted and discharged Muhammed Yusoff without calling for his defence on charges of trafficking 305 grams of cannabis and possessing two imitation firearms.
Judge Datuk Muhammad Jamil Hussin ruled that the prosecution had failed to establish a prima facie case against him at the close of the prosecution’s case.
Muhammed Yusoff was initially charged on Sept 12, 2024, with trafficking cannabis in a vehicle near the Kuala Lumpur Police Contingent Headquarters surau on Sept 6, 2024.
He also faced a separate charge of possessing two imitation pistols near a condominium along Jalan Bukit Kiara on the same day.
The prosecution’s appeal against his acquittal remains pending.
