The briefing note was written and circulating during the 68th Annual General Meeting of the Malaysian Bar as a matter of urgency on issues that arise from the sentencing of YB Karpal Singh on 11 March 2014 to a fine of RM4000 after he had been found guilty of an offence under the Sedition Act…
11 March 2014 LFL is shocked and extremely concerned with Karpal Singh’s sedition conviction and RM4,000 fine imposed by High Court Judge Azman Abdullah thus disqualifying him as member of Parliament (although the disqualification would be stayed until he has exhausted all legal appeals). We reiterate that making political or critical comments is not a…
Press Statement 7 March 2014 LFL is extremely shocked and appalled at the Court of Appeal’s ludicrous sodomy conviction and five years’ jail sentence against Anwar Ibrahim in what was clearly a trumped up and politically motivated charge that has been universally condemned. Anwar’s conviction merely reaffirms the return of iron fist authoritarian rule and…
Press Statement 6 March 2014 LFL is extremely concerned with the unholy haste in which our judiciary had fast tracked the Public Prosecutor’s appeal against Anwar Ibrahim’s sodomy case – a trumped up and politically motivated charge that had been universally condemned. The sudden increase in judicial efficiency and swiftness to dispose off all matters…
Press Statement 21 February 2014 Karpal Singh’s sedition conviction reaffirms the return of authoritarianism and political persecution LFL is extremely concerned and shocked with the Kuala Lumpur High Court’s conviction of Karpal Singh for sedition where he now faces imprisonment up to 3 years and disqualification as member of Parliament. Making political or critical comments…
Press Statement 18 February 2014 LFL is extremely concerned but unsurprised with the High Court’s dismissal of Uthayakumar’s appeal against his sedition conviction and sentence of 30 months’ imprisonment. The Hindraf founder was convicted for writing a letter to former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown in 2007 claiming ‘mini-genocide’ and ‘ethnic cleansing’ had been perpetrated…
Umno lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah (pic) and Putrajaya will suffer from negative public perception if he is made the Attorney General, a lawyers group said. Lawyers for Liberty adviser and co-founder Eric Paulsen said Putrajaya should not even consider Shafee a candidate for the job as “he is carrying too much baggage”. “The…
Malaysia is a secular state and non-Muslims in the country are not bound by any edicts issued by state rulers or the National Fatwa Council on issues concerning Islam, said constitutional experts. The Sultan of Kedah, who is the reigning Yang di-Pertuan Agong, yesterday cited a 1986 ruling by the National Fatwa Council that several…
PUTRAJAYA (Jan 20): The government was unsuccessful in the Court of Appeal today in its bid to reverse the High Court ruling that the arrests of six lawyers and activists during the 2007 Human Rights Day Walk in Kuala Lumpur were unlawful. The lawyers and activists, meanwhile, also failed in their appeal over the quantum…
Civil society must pressure Putrajaya to set up a Royal Commission of Inquiry to investigate the RM12.5 billion Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) project, following the acquittal of two former ministers of cheating, a lawyers’ group said today. Lawyers for Liberty adviser Eric Paulsen said a respectable panel would be able to shed light on…
The Attorney General must review whether Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah (pic) is “fit and proper” to lead the prosecution seeking to set aside Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s acquittal for sodomy after a court decided the Umno lawyer was guilty of professional misconduct, says a lawyers group. Lawyer for Liberty adviser Eric Paulsen said although…
KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 9 — The Najib administration is pandering to Malay-Muslim hardliners with its surprise ban on a 54-member coalition of human right advocacy groups despite previously associating with it, lawyers have said. Three lawyers polled also insisted the government cannot arbitrarily outlaw a coalition under the Societies Act 1966, and must deal with…
Malaysia does not have a law to prosecute a Catholic priest for treason against the Selangor ruler by ignoring a royal decree not to use the word “Allah”, say criminal and human rights lawyers. They said that treason did not apply in Malaysia where the Federal Constitution reigns supreme despite calls by several conservative Muslim…
KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 3 — After the surprise raid and seizure of Malay and Iban language bibles yesterday, several lawyers are now questioning the extent of the Selangor Islamic Religious Department’s (Jais) power to enforce a ban on “Allah” against non-Muslims in the state. They also poured doubt on the validity and constitutionality of the…
Press Statement 31 December 2013 Lawyers for Liberty is outraged at the biased stance of the authorities especially the police when faced with the prospect of a peaceful assembly to be held at Dataran Merdeka on 31 December 2013, in protest of the alarming increase in prices of goods nationwide. We wish to remind the…