Police will remand Lawyers for Liberty (LFL) co-founder Eric Paulsen for two days after arresting him last night for accusing a federal Islamic authority of spreading extremism through Friday sermons.
One of his lawyers, Sivarasa Rasiah, said among the reasons police gave for the two-day remand were the need to take Paulsen's fingerprints, his statement, and to search his home.
Sivarasa said the remand was unnecessary as Paulsen was being investigated over a tweet and could be charged immediately.
"Our argument is if police are of the opinion that his tweet was an offence, bring him to court," Sivarasa said at a press conference at the Dang Wangi police station in Kuala Lumpur today.
Police had initially applied for a four-day remand but the court only gave a two-day remand order, Sivarasa added.
Besides Sivarasa, six other lawyers – N. Surendran, Latheefa Koya, Dheeraj Bhar, G. Sivamalar, Michelle Yesudas and Shahid Adli – were at the police station today.
They said Paulsen would be released tomorrow.
"His detention yesterday and today is an abuse of power by the police... because there is no grounds to hold him in the lockup.
"If they think his words were an offence, the A-G can charge him. It is unreasonable, against the law and an oppression against Eric."
Sivarasa added that police could take Paulsen's fingerprints and statement without having to remand him, as he would be going to the police headquarters in Bukit Aman for an interview tomorrow.
The directive to detain the human rights lawyer was influenced by politics and statements by the national leadership, Sivarasa said.
"To keep him in a lock-up, it is obvious that the directive was from the top management and influenced by political leadership," he said referring to the statement made by Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.
"All this is obvious to influence the inspector-general of police (IGP) to take action."
National news agency Bernama reported yesterday that Muhyiddin wanted police to act against Paulsen, and hours later, police moved to arrest him.
IGP Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar had tweeted about the arrest and had gone on to post that Paulsen was "arrogant" while warning others not to collaborate with Paulsen in destroying Malaysia's harmony.
- TMI
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.