Lee Kwan Woh v. Public Prosecutor [2009] 5 CLJ 631 was a case heard in the Federal Court of Malaysia.
The Federal Court unanimously allowed Lee's appeal against the death sentence because of irregularities in his original trial for drug trafficking in the High Court, and held that the trial judge's behaviour constituted a violation of Article 5 of the Constitution of Malaysia, which provides that no person shall be deprived of life or personal liberty save in accordance with the law.
In our view, it is the duty of a court to adopt a prismatic approach when interpreting the fundamental rights guaranteed under Part II of the Constitution.
In the same way, the prismatic interpretive approach will reveal to the court the rights submerged in the concepts employed by the several provisions under Part II.
The Federal Court also found that the trial judge had been insufficiently critical of the prosecution's evidence, and not paid attention to inconsistencies or errors in them.