KUALA LUMPUR – Two senior judges, Datuk Hanipah Farikullah and Datuk Vazeer Alam Mydin Meera, who have served the judiciary for more than 10 years, have been elevated to the Federal Court bench.
Hanipah and Vazeer, as well as three judicial commissioners who have been elevated as high court judges, received their letters of appointment from Yang di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Ibrahim at Istana Negara here this morning.
They then took their oath during the elevation ceremony at the Palace of Justice this afternoon, where the ceremony was chaired by Chief Justice Tun Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat.
Also present at the ceremony was acting Chief Judge of Malaya and Court of Appeal president Tan Sri Datuk Amar Abang Iskandar Abang Hashim.
65-year-old Hanipah, who hails from Besut, Terengganu, was appointed as judicial commissioner in May 2018 and later elevated to the high court in January 2013 and Court of Appeal in April 2018.
Among the high-profile cases she presided over during her time as high court judge was the Sisters in Islam’s judicial review, where she had dismissed the non-governmental organisation’s challenge against the fatwa that labelled the group “deviant”.
The group’s appeal is currently pending a hearing in the Federal Court.
Meanwhile, Vazeer, a fellow of Aberystwyth University in the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth Judicial Education Institute in Canada, began his career in the judiciary in May 2010, when he was appointed as judicial commissioner, and then as high court judge in February 2015. He was then elevated as a Court of Appeal judge in August 2019.
Vazeer led the Court of Appeal panel on February 8 in upholding the high court’s decision that acquitted Samirah Muzaffar and her two teenage sons in the high-profile murder case involving former Cradle Fund chief executive officer Nazrin Hassan.
During his time as Shah Alam High Court judge, Vazeer presided over the suit against the government brought by the family of murdered Mongolian model Altantuya Shaariibuu.
Apart from Hanipah and Vazeer, judicial commissioners Alexander Siew, Su Tiang Joo and Amelati Parnell were elevated to high court judges.
Su, who was registered as a barrister of the Honourable Society of Gray’s Inn UK as well as an advocate and solicitor in Singapore’s Supreme Court, was elected as judicial commissioner in July 2020.
Today, she took her oath of office before high court judge Datuk Akhtar Tahir.
Meanwhile, Siew and Amelati, who were appointed in July 2020 and April 2021, respectively, took their oaths before Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Tan Sri Abdul Rahman Sebli. – March 18, 2024