KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 7 — Sarawak Report editor Clare Rewcastle-Brown who was sentenced to two years in jail by a Magistrates Court after being found guilty of defaming the Sultanah of Terengganu, Sultanah Nur Zahirah, will apply to set aside her conviction, her lawyer said today.

Lawyer Guok Ngek Seong said he had received instructions from the former to file an appeal in the High Court, while at the same time urging the higher court to invoke its revisionary power to correct the "grossly illegal and irregular order”.

"The application will be filed tomorrow as the magistrate’s decision violates Section 425A (1) of the Criminal Procedure Code,” he told Malay Mail here.

Guok said the prosecution failed to produce Rewcastle-Brown in court in September 2021 and that she was charged in absentia.

He said the trial of an accused could only proceed in their absence if they have absconded after claiming trial.

"The accused then shall be deemed to have waived their right to be present at the trial.

"The police knew her whereabouts in London but did not take steps to bring her to Malaysia,” he said.

Rewcastle-Brown was previously the subject of an arrest warrant issued by the court for her failure to show up for a charge in relation to the case.

For her conviction, she was prosecuted under Section 500 of the Penal Code for publishing remarks that were deemed defamatory in The Sarawak Report: The Inside Story of the 1MDB Expose.

The court ordered the jail sentence to start today.

Sultanah Nur Zahirah had filed a lawsuit on November 21, 2018 against Rewcastle-Brown over the book’s claims and demanded damages of RM100 million.

She claimed that the defamatory remarks suggested that she was involved in corrupt practices and had meddled in the Terengganu state government’s affairs.

The Sultanah also said the claim that she had used her status to influence the establishment of the Terengganu Investment Board (TIA), which was later known as 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), was untrue.

Sultanah Nur Zahirah further denied, as detailed in the book, that she had helped fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho, otherwise known as Jho Low, to become the TIA’s advisor.