KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 28 - Bersih was given leave today to challenge the government’s ban on the electoral reforms movement.
The High Court here dismissed the Attorney General’s application to strike out the suit, setting November 22 to hear the case.
“This is important as it allows a matter ofpublic interest to be heard in open court,” Bersih chief Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan told reporters after meeting the judge in chambers.
Tens of thousands poured into the capital on July 9 to call for free and fair elections despite the government banning the coalition of 62 NGOs on July 1.
Police had clamped down on the march, arresting nearly 2,000 during and before the rally and firing tear gas and water cannon to disperse demonstrators, resulting in scores injured and the death of one ex-soldier.
In the order banning Bersih, the Home Minister had said movement that was “prejudicial to security interests” of the country.
But in a major concession to Bersih, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak announced last month a parliamentary select committee to look into electoral reforms.
Senior federal counsel Datuk Kamaludin Mohd Said told reporters he will await instructions from the AG to decide whether to appeal the court’s decision.
The senior federal counsel was representing the Attorney-General, the Home Minister and the Inspector-General of Police who have all been named respondents in the judicial review.
The respondents, however, succeeded in striking out Bersih’s request for a court order to stop authorities from entering and raiding their premises and to return property seized in the lead-up to the July 9 rally.
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