Nik Nazmi outside the Court of Appeal, today. – The Malaysian Insider pic by Najjua Zulkefli, April 25, 2014.The Court of Appeal today struck out the charge against Selangor's deputy speaker Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad who was charged under the Peaceful Assembly Act for failing to give police a 10-day notice for a rally last year.A three-man bench led by judge Datuk Mohamad Ariff bin Md Yusof also ruled in a unanimous decision today that Section 9 (1) of the Peaceful Assembly Act (PAA) requiring citizens to give 10 days' notice to the authorities before a protest as unconstitutional.
The court said that while the police can impose restriction on peaceful assembly, they cannot penalise organisers and participants for non-compliance.
Ariff said section 9 (5) of the Act presents “some conceptual difficulty” as it considers peaceful assemblies lawful regardless of compliance with the notice.
“That which is fundamentally lawful cannot be criminalised,” he said when reading out a section of his judgment today.
“That which is fundamentally lawful cannot be criminalised,” he said when reading out a section of his judgment today.
Nik Nazmi, the Seri Setia state assemblyman, was charged under the Peaceful Assembly Act 2012 for not giving a 10-day notice to hold the Blackout Rally at the Kelana Jaya stadium last year, in the aftermath of the general election.
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