Review all sedition cases, not just select few, AG told

Malay Mail 

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 10 — The Attorney-General (AG) should consider dropping all sedition charges used recently against a number of government critics instead of reviewing just a few, the Bar Council and DAP said, as authorities charged yet another today.

 

Reminding the Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail of his opening remarks at the Opening of the Legal Year 2013 calling of tolerance, Bar Council president Christopher Leong said in a statement here that the review of the charges will eventually lead to the abolition of the controversial legislation.

Quoting Gani saying “in order that every man presents his views without penalty, there must be a spirit of tolerance in the entire population”, Leong said he hoped that this phase of reform will also see the repeal of the Sedition Act.

In a separate statement, DAP’s national legal bureau chairman Gobind Singh Deo pointed out that the sedition charges, particularly the one against law lecturer Associate Professor Dr Azmi Sharom, “bordered on absurdity”.

“Such a charge does little if nothing to assist in our hope to build a nation which promotes healthy discussion, in particular amongst academicians, especially in times of legal uncertainties such as that of the current matter at hand,” said Gobind, who is also representing Azmi in the case.

Azmi was charged in court with sedition last week for his remarks linking the handling of the Selangor menteri besar impasse to the 2009 Perak constitutional crisis, making him the first academic to be snagged in the dragnet.

 

Yesterday, however, Abdul Gani announced that the AG’s Chambers will review several sedition cases, including Azmi’s, to ensure that the prosecution had been fair and transparent.

Gobind, who is also Puchong MP, said the AG should consider the impact the charge has on freedom of expression among academics, who should be entitled to express their professional opinions on matters of public importance.

“What was said in this case cannot by any stretch of the imagination be taken to be seditious,” said Gobind.

“I hope that reason will prevail and the charges against Dr Azmi Sharom will be dropped. That would certainly be a step in the right direction and would, to my mind, augur well for the AG himself as public prosecutor,” he said.

Putrajaya recently embarked on a sedition crackdown, hauling up at least 16 anti-government dissidents and opposition politicians under the colonial-era law in the space of one month.

The crackdown led to three opposition lawmakers being charged under the 1948 Act two weeks ago, including one for uttering the words “celaka Umno” in the Penang state assembly.Among the latest targets to come under a sedition scope are news portal Malaysiakini and its journalist Susan Loone, over a report on a police crackdown on Penang’s state-endorsed volunteer patrol unit.

This was followed by the charge against Azmi and, a day later, Sabah police confirmed that they have started a sedition probe on the owners of a Facebook page propagating the secession of Sabah and Sarawak from Malaysia.

Also in Sabah the same day, opposition politician David Orok claimed trial to a sedition charge for allegedly posting remarks insulting Prophet Muhammad and Islam on Facebook in July.

Last Friday, student activist Muhammad Safwan Anang was sentenced to 10 months’ jail after the Sessions Court here found him guilty of sedition.

On Monday, social activist Ali Abd Jalil became the fifth person to be charged with sedition in under a fortnight, after he claimed trial for posting remarks on Facebook that allegedly insulted the Johor royal house.

Earlier today, Muslim preacher Wan Ji Wan Hussin claimed trial to an offence of having allegedly insulted the Sultan of Selangor in a Facebook post, nearly two years ago.