KUALA LUMPUR — The Facebook posting last night by fugitive activist Ali Abd Jalil claiming he had been arrested in Sweden by international police is “not true”, his sister said today, adding that her brother was merely mocking the authorities back home.
When contacted, Asiah Abd Jalil confirmed Ali’s late-night posting yesterday of the purported arrest could not have happened.
“No, it’s not true, Ali was just mocking the police and Malaysian government,” Asiah told Malay Mail Online in a message using Whatsapp.
Yesterday, Ali wrote on his Facebook that he has been taken by Interpol, before continuing on in the Malay language to claim that “Tonight will be brought back to Malaysia..tomorrow arrive at KLIA at 12 noon..Never give up!”
Malaysian police and Home Minister Zahid Hamidi have been criticized for heavy-handed action
In that same Facebook post, he was seen posing with a girl — both smiling — identified as Adlin Abd Jalil next to what appeared to be a police car, with the word “Polis” written on its side.
At the time of writing, the Facebook posting featuring the photograph has received 337 “likes” and attracted 292 comments.
Not a crime in Sweden
But Asiah today said the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) would not have arrested Ali, as among other things, his purported crime in Malaysia is not considered a crime in Sweden.
“Interpol would not entertain request for arrest or extradition because 1) Ali has successfully got his asylum status in Sweden 2) the “crime” Ali is accused of does not comply with “dual criminality” 3) Interpol will not entertain politically motivated case,” she said in the same text message.
Ali charged under the oppressive Sedition Act
When contacted late last night, a Wisma Putra official similarly told Malay Mail Online that they did not receive any official report on Ali’s so-called arrest and deportation.
Ali, 29, is seeking political asylum in Sweden after he was charged twice for sedition and spent three weeks in remand while police investigated him for his Facebook insults against the royalty in Malaysia.
After Malaysia’s Immigration Department revoked his passport, Ali posted this Tuesday on Facebook a photograph of his asylum seeker card granted by Sweden and had said he is now under the protection of international law.
Extradition is the process where an individual suspected of or convicted of a crime would be officially transferred by one country to another country where he is wanted.
Ali’s case is part of a string of cases this year in what was perceived to be a government clampdown of freedom of expression through the Sedition Act 1948.
He is the second individual to have left the country this year after being charged with sedition, with former sex blogger Alvin Tan having fled to the US to seek political asylum months earlier. Tan’s passport was also revoked this week. - Malay Mail
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