Hindraf: Govt need not dread UK lawyer’s visit

Imran Khan's meeting with potential clients on Sunday at Klang’s Hokkian Hall will be an orderly affair, assures its chief Waythamoorthy

GEORGE TOWN: Putrajaya need not be wary of UK human rights lawyer Imran Khan meeting local clients pertaining to Hindraf’s US$4 trillion class-action British suit.

London-based Hindraf supremo P Waythamoorthy assured that the meeting would be a closed door affair between Imran and several hundred potential co-claimants in the suit.

Waythamoorthy said the meeting has been arranged to held at Klang’s Hokkian Hall on Sunday morning.
“It’s a rare chance for local underclass Indians to meet their lawyer. It would be costly for them to travel to London to meet Imran.

“The government need not worry and be panicky about it,” said Waythamoorthy, who originally filed the suit against the UK government in London on Aug 31, 2007.

The suit, filed on the 50th anniversary of Malaysia’s independence, is seeking compensation for Indian Malaysians whose ancestors were brought into Malaya as indentured labourers.

However, it was stalled following the Malaysian government’s clampdown on Hindraf and the arrest of several lawyers under the Internal Security Act (ISA).

The suit laid claim that, after granting independence to Malaya, the British had left the Indians without representation and at the mercy of the Umno government.

Hndraf’s activists and sympathisers fear that the government may do a ‘Bourdon’ on Imran and his colleague upon their arrival in Malaysia this evening.

French human rights lawyer William Bourdon was deported by the government when he was here to give a speech pertaining to the billion-dollar Scorpene submarine scandal last month.

Waythamoorthy called on the federal government not to press the panic button and waste public resources to halt the peaceful lawyer-client meeting.

Prominent human rights lawyer

“Clients should be able to meet lawyers without fear and intimidation. Most clients are without means to travel to UK as they belonged to the underclass.

“I hope Imran would not be stopped upon his arrival in Malaysia this evening,” said Waythamoorthy.

Imran, a prominent lawyer in UK is best known for his human rights work, one of which was representing the family of Stephen Lawrence, who was murdered in a racist attack in 1993.

In that case, Imran exposed institutionalised racism existing in the police force, prompting the government to carry out numerous reforms within the force.

His work on case catapulted him to national and international attention attention and to the establishment of the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry.

The impact of this inquiry reverberated throughout the British criminal justice and public service systems.
His other notable representations were for families of eight-year-old Victoria Climbe (who was tortured to death in February, 2000) and Zahid Mubarek (murdered by his racist cellmate in March 2000).

His work led to public inquiries into their deaths and brought about substantial social changes regarding the care of children and prisoners in the UK.

Imran has lectured nationally and internationally on human rights and criminal law and has also written extensive on these subjects.

He has received numerous awards and honorary doctorates in recognition of his work.