Lawyers for Liberty

Press Statement Rushed Appeal Hearings in Nagaenthran’s case fixed for 9th November through late evening court directions are a blatant denial of due process 8 November 2021   I refer to the stay of execution granted by the Singapore High Court in Nagaenthran’s case staying the 10th of November execution date.   We are dismayed…

Press Release  Singapore Home Ministry’s latest statement on Nagaenthran is Goebbels-like in its repetition & contains outright falsities  6 November 2021   We refer to the latest statement issued by the Singapore Ministry of Home Affairs ( MHA) on 6th Nov 2021 on the impending execution of mentally disabled Malaysian citizen Nagaenthran Dharmalingam. The MHA…

Press Statement Singapore’s response to public pressure on Nagaenthran’s case provides no justification for executing a person with mental disability 4 November 2021   We refer to the statement issued on 3 November 2021 by the Singapore Ministry of Home Affairs ( MHA ) in response to widespread public pressure on the planned execution of…

Press Release: Singapore must halt Nov 10 execution of mentally disabled M’sian citizen Nagaenthran Dharmalingam 28 October 2021 I refer to the imminent execution of Malaysian citizen Nagaenthran a/l K Dharmalingam who is on death row in Singapore’s notorious Changi prison. Nagaenthran was convicted in 2011 of illegally importing 42.72 grams of diamorphine and sentenced…

Press Statement Performative religious enforcement & lack of humanity drove Nur Sajat into permanent exile 19 October 2021 We refer to news reports that cosmetics entrepreneur Nur Sajat has now settled down in Australia, having fled Malaysia as she felt unsafe after being charged in the Syariah Court for ‘dressing up as a woman’. The…

Press Statement Draconian laws should be repealed, not strengthened 29 September 2021   We refer to the 12th Malaysian Plan (12MP) which stated that the government intends to review and amend notoriously draconian laws to ‘strengthen the governance and security in the country’.   These laws which include the Prevention of Crime Act 1959 (POCA),…

Press Statement There is no need to buy time to amend the constitution to confer Malaysian mothers with foreign spouses the right to give citizenship to their children born overseas 23 September 2021 We refer to statement given by the Home Minister yesterday where he informed the Dewan Rakyat that the government will be proposing…

Press Statement Drop baseless charges against Heidy Quah for exposing horrible conditions at immigration detention centres 29 July 2021 LFL views with grave concern the criminal charge levied against Heidy Quah at the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court yesterday. We are well acquainted with section 233(1)(a) of the Communications and Multimedia Act (CMA) and the decision…

Press Statement Attempts to tackle forced labour issue must include massive overhaul of policy & attitude of the Home Ministry 16 July 2021   We refer to the recent statement by the Human Resources Minister, M Saravanan, where he expressed that Malaysia is ready to enter into strategic cooperation with the US to address human…

Press Statement Exposing police wrongdoing or brutality is not a crime 3 July 2021 We refer to the raid conducted by the police against Freedom Film Network co-founder Anna Har and animator/artist, Amin Landak over the animated film, “Chilli Powder and Thinner”. The heavy-handed response of the police to a short film on police brutality…

Press Statement Vaccinating can be done without arresting migrants 5 June 2021 We refer to the Home Minister’s statement on 3rd June where he insisted that the government is rounding up migrants to vaccinate them for Covid-19. Upon reading his statement, even though the Home Ministerclaims that the mass operation is to get migrants documented…

Press Statement Government must take immediate action on the spate of custodial deaths 4 June 2021   We refer to the news reports regarding the death of a detainee, Umar Faruq Abdullah, at the Klang District Police Headquarters on 3 June 2021. This is the fourth custodial death in recent weeks, an alarming trend that…

Press Statement Permit from police for lawyers to attend court is unconstitutional & dangerous 2 June 2021 We refer to the Law Minister’s announcement yesterday that lawyers will need a police permit to attend court for criminal cases involving new prosecutions, remand orders, and various criminal applications. Imposing the requirement of a police permit for the exercise of legal representation…

Press Statement The government should focus on curbing infection, not go after migrants during lockdown 30 May 2021 We are deeply concerned that the Home Minister, Hamzah Zainudin, has stated that the Immigration Department will beconducting a mass operation against undocumented migrants during the two-week lockdown.i This underhanded strategy of utilising the Movement Control Order…