Don’t take it out on the kids, legal group tells cops after Bersih probe on PKR No 2’s teen son

Paulsen urged the police to be 'professional, impartial and competent' in maintaining law and order. — Picture by Yusof Mat IsaKUALA LUMPUR, Nov 9 — Lawyers for Liberty (LFL) slammed the police today for investigating the children of Selangor Mentri Besar Azmin Ali and activists for participating in the Bersih 4 rally.

Its executive director Eric Paulsen said investigations against the 15 year-old-boy and 14 year-old-girl respectively under the Peaceful Assembly Act is "clearly selective and in bad faith" as the Bersih 4 rally ended peacefully with hundreds of thousands Malaysians in attendance including many other children.

"What possible reason could the police provide for both these children to be singled out other than the fact of their parents’ background and political leaning?

"Investigating these children for merely exercising their right to peaceful assembly is clearly misconceived and unfortunately lends further credence that the police force remains highly politicised and selective when it comes to political offences," he said in a statement.

He urged the police to be "professional, impartial and competent" in maintaining law and order, preventing and detecting "real crimes" rather than be concerned with political offences involving the government’s political adversaries or their children.

Azmin, who is also PKR deputy president, said yesterday that the police have ordered his 15-year-old son to go to the Dang Wangi district police headquarters today, despite facing final exams in school starting the same day.

In tweets from his Twitter account, Azmin said his child will be investigated over a Bersih rally, but did not specify if it was the rally that took place over two months ago.

Lawyers have since confirmed, however, that the boy would only be required to give his statement after sitting for his examinations.

On September 18, Azmin was reported to have had his statement recorded at the Dang Wangi district police headquarters over three matters under the Peaceful Assembly Act 2012: for allegedly wearing the banned yellow Bersih 4 shirt, and calling the Inspector-General of Police “barua” Umno, a Malay word meaning “stooge”.

Today, Paulsen also reminded the authorities of their responsibilities under the Child Act 2001 and the Convention on the Rights of the Child to protect and assist children without any discrimination and that the welfare and best interest of the child should be the authorities’ first and foremost concern.

- MMO