PUTRAJAYA, Jan 21 ― The Federal Court has again rejected the Catholic Church’s bid for the apex court to hear its appeal on its constitutional right to use the word “Allah”, marking an end to remaining legal avenues in the case.

The decision was made unanimously by the five-judge panel that was hearing the application today.

“In the end, we have come to an unanimous conclusion that there has not occurred any procedural unfairness in the Federal Court in coming to decision regarding this case,” Tan Sri Abdull Hamid Embong, who chaired the panel, said this afternoon when dismissing the application without costs.

The other judges on the panel are Tan Sri Ahmad Haji Maarop, Tan Sri Hasan Lah, Datuk Ramly Haji Ali and Datuk Azahar Mohamed.

The legal dispute has been in the courts for the last five years after the Home Ministry banned the publication of the word “Allah” in the Catholic Church’s weekly paper Herald’s Bahasa Malaysia section in 2007.

In the long trek to today’s review hearing, the Catholic Church first tasted victory when it won its case in a landmark High Court ruling in 2009.

But when the matter was later brought before the Court of Appeal, the ruling was overturned.

The church then filed for leave to appeal the appellate court’s decision, but this was rejected in a narrow 4-3 decision at the Federal Court on June 23 last year.

The Catholic Church’s lawyers applied last September for a rare review of the Federal Court’s refusal to hear its appeal, arguing that there was “procedural unfairness” and that it had decided on legal issues not raised by any of the parties involved in the case.

The Catholic Church also argued that its case was an important constitutional issue, especially on the rights of minorities in Malaysia but claimed the Federal Court had failed to answer key constitutional questions including Article 3 and Article 11.

There was light police presence outside the Federal Court today and a small part of the entrance was cordoned off, but no protesters were spotted.

The courtroom was packed today, with 17 lawyers holding watching briefs for over 16 bodies, including Christian organisations, the Catholic Lawyers Association, the Bar Council and Commonwealth Lawyers Association.

The Herald case is crucial as it may have bearings on other cases involving the word “Allah” ― which some Muslims claim is exclusive to Islam although Bumiputera Christians have argued that they have been using it to refer to their God for centuries.

Tomorrow, the Kuala Lumpur High Court will also hear the government’s bid to postpone the court order for the Home Ministry to return eight private “Allah” compact discs (CD) to Sarawakian Christian Jill Ireland Lawrence Bill, until the end of its appeal.

The High Court is also set to hear a case involving another case of seizure of Christian materials containing the words “Allah” from the Sabah Sidang Injil Borneo (SIB) church, but no date has been fixed yet.