“Lawyer arrested? Unbelievable!”

Contributed by Seira Sacha Binti Abu Bakar, with photos by the author and Khaizan Sharizad Ab. Razak

That was my reaction late last night when told that Puspawati Rosman had been arrested. I had just spoken to her on the phone less than five minutes earlier!

For the second consecutive night, a vigil was held in front of the Brickfields police station last night for BERSIH activist Wong Chin Huat, who had been arrested on Tuesday night under the Sedition Act 1948. Like the previous night, 14 people were arrested by the police for participating in the peaceful vigil.

Upon hearing this news, the Kuala Lumpur Legal Aid Centre (KLLAC) sent a team of lawyers to the police station to provide legal representation and assistance to the detainees. However, not only was their request to see the detainees denied, but the crowd gathered outside the police station was ordered to disperse. Most individuals obliged, but the KLLAC team refused to budge, hoping that they would eventually gain access to their clients. As a result, they too were arrested.

The five Legal Aid lawyers arrested were Fadiah Nadwa Fikri, Puspawati Rosman, Ravinder Singh Dhaliwal (KL Bar Committee LAC Chairperson), Murnie Hidayah Bt Annuar and Syuhaini Safuan.

When other members of the Bar requested to see the five Legal Aid lawyers, access was again denied. This prompted some senior members of the Bar to file a police report against DSP Jude Pereira for the denial of legal access.

Amongst those spotted in the crowd of supporters waiting outside the Brickfields police station were Ragunath Kesavan (President of the Malaysian Bar), Anand Ponnudurai (Chair of the KL Bar Committee), and several MPs including Tian Chua (who had been released from the Sg Senam police station in Ipoh earlier the same evening) and Elizabeth Wong (Bukit Lanjan ADUN).

As at 3:45 a.m., there is still no news that the five lawyers will be released anytime soon. We commend them for their diligence and determination in the conduct of their professional duties, and wish them a speedy release.

Postscript:

About 150 lawyers gathered at the Jalan Duta Court Complex at 10 a.m. this morning in support of the five detained KLLAC lawyers. At the gathering, Ragunath Kesavan, President of the Malaysian Bar, announced that an EGM will be called very soon to discuss the issue of lawyers being arrested in the course of carrying out their professional duties.

At a press conference held at the Bar Council auditorium at 230 p.m, the President announced that the five lawyers were in the process of being released.