COMMENT | The charade of 'fair trial' has hit a royal note

COMMENT | Last week, I wrote: “Habis. The end. It is all done - finito. And certainly, the curtains must come down on former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak’s SRC International case.” I concluded by saying that the fat lady has sung.

I was not wrong but a reader noted that the fat lady was just clearing her throat. How true it turned out to be. Now we hear that the sole dissenting judgment will be used to bolster a bid for a pardon.

The word pardon denotes an exercise in forgiving someone, in this case, a convicted wrongdoer. In most cases, the offender expresses remorse and seeks forgiveness, but in this case, he is seeking a pardon defiantly.

The phrase “fair trial” has been misused ever since Najib was first charged in 2018 and continues to be used by his supporters, cronies, politicians and lawyers.

And this “fair trial” bit is again going to be used in the pardon bid, sans repentance and compassion.

Yesterday, his defence counsel Muhammed Shafee Abdullah made it clear at a media conference, saying that the pardon (application) is exactly what (Abdul) Rahman (Sebli, the Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak) said in the judgment...