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A 20-year-old individual has become the first to challenge the national laws enacted in 2023, which prohibit the public display of symbols linked to banned terrorist organizations, as a court heard recently.
Magistrate Christine Haskett expressed that the constitutional nature of the challenge meant it should be escalated to the country’s highest court for consideration, rather than being handled at her level.
“It seems like you’re jumping ahead,” she remarked. “The High Court is the ultimate authority on matters of the constitution. I lack the jurisdiction to address this issue.”
However, a prosecutor representing the commonwealth contended that the magistrate did possess both the authority and jurisdiction to consider the constitutional matter, noting that her ruling could ultimately be reviewed or overturned by the High Court.
But the commonwealth prosecutor argued the magistrate had both the power and the jurisdiction to deal with the constitutional issue, even if her decision could later be overruled by the High Court.
He said there was no guarantee the nation’s highest court would hear the case and delays would result in “further fragmentation” of a matter that had been ready to proceed to a hearing.
Both state and federal attorneys-general had been made aware of the constitutional challenge and did not move to oppose it in the local court.
Haskett noted the case was significant and Mouhanna was unlikely to be the only person charged with the offence given weekly protests occurring around the nation.
“It is a major constitutional issue,” she said.
The magistrate elected not to hear the case and adjourned it until November 18 after Mouhanna flagged an intention to escalate the fight to the High Court.
“We’re now considering our options in a more superior court,” her solicitor Hisham Karnib said after the hearing.
Mouhanna was charged after a large pro-Palestine protest that followed the expansion of Israel’s offensive in Gaza into the Hezbollah stronghold of southern Lebanon.