A grocery shop owner has filed an application at the High Court in Kuala Lumpur to challenge the legality of a provision which the cops relied on to detain him over the alleged link to the now-defunct terrorist group Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
B Subramaniam, 57, is seeking to declare Section 4(5) of the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 (Sosma) as unlawful.
In the court document filed yesterday and sighted by Malaysiakini, Subramaniam (above) claimed that police's move to detain him under Sosma was also unconstitutional.
He said the provision "had ceased functioning effectively on July 31, 2017 as the then home minister failed to gazette the review of the Sosma provision passed in Parliament".
Section 4(5) of Sosma allows police to detain without trial an individual for 28 days for the purpose of investigation.
However, Section 4(11) of the same act states that Section 4(5) shall be reviewed every five years and shall cease to have effect unless the review was passed in Dewan Rakyat and Dewan Negara.
Since his detention was unlawful, Subramaniam urged the court to declare that the charge against him was also "unlawful and unconstitutional".
On Oct 31, he was charged with supporting LTTE under Section 130J(1)(a) of the Penal Code which carries life imprisonment.
"I believe I was arrested for producing and sharing two videos publicly, as well as I was unhappy with the fate of the Tamils in Sri Lanka," he said in an affidavit in support of his application.
Subramaniam was represented by lawyer S Selvam.
Police had detained 12 men including two DAP state assemblypersons under Sosma over their alleged link with the LTTE.
They were slapped with multiple charges under Section 130 of Penal Code on Oct 29 and Oct 31.
Subramaniam was among the five accused persons who complained about mistreatment, torture and intimidation during their detention. - Mkini
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