Prominent lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah has accused Attorney-General Tommy Thomas of reversing on his own volition freedom of expression.
He was commenting on the Kuala Lumpur High Court's decision this morning to grant Thomas leave to cite Shafee for contempt of court over his comments regarding the case involving the latter's client, former premier Najib Abdul Razak.
However, Shafee insisted that he did nothing wrong and vowed to challenge the matter.
He said Thomas was the one who resisted when the defence in the SRC International-related case requested the Kuala Lumpur High Court to issue a gag order.
"We wanted the gag order to prevent anyone commenting on the case, especially on its merits, on whether Najib or me or anybody else is guilty of the charges.
"We were the ones who asked (for the gag order) and we got it from Justice Mohd Sofian (Abd Razak). It was the attorney-general who opposed.
"If you remember, he (Thomas) came to court and said this is a free country; there is freedom of speech. Anybody can speak about any case, about anything.
"He used the word 'we do not want to be a government that is oppressive'," he added when met at the Kuala Lumpur Courts Complex this afternoon.
Thomas sought to cite Shafee for contempt of court over the latter's comments in a KiniTV video entitled 'Shafee: This is completely bonkers'.
The lawyer made the comments after Najib was granted a discharge not amounting to an acquittal (DNAA) over three money-laundering charges on Feb 7.
Describing Thomas' action as "laughable", Shafee questioned how could his remarks be regarded as contemptuous when he was commenting on the prospect of his case.
The lawyer added that he was merely answering a reporter's question on the case.
"He (Thomas) chose to take action against me apparently over a statement, which was given as a result of a question just like this from a reporter. If I recollect correctly, (the question was) what is the prospect of my case.
"And I said this very carefully: 'If you give me a straight judge, if you give me witnesses who are not coached, if you give me evidence that is not fabricated, I have a good chance of winning'.
"In fact, I said I got a good prospect of winning. How could that be contemptuous? It is laughable," he added.
Shafee said he was looking forward to receiving the documents on the contempt proceedings as he wanted to see "how independent and free is the 'New Malaysia' which the attorney-general boasted about when he appeared in court."
He added that he was not fearful of the proceedings, claiming that he has never disrespected any court. - Mkini
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