Nurul Izzah, three others questioned

Investigations into the Bersih 2.0 rally continued today, with the police questioning four more people over alleged sedition and their support for an 'illegal gathering'.

PKR vice-presidents Nurul Izzah Anwar and N Surendran, PKR's Subang MP R Sivarasa and Fadiah Nadwa Fikri from Lawyers for Liberty spent more than an hour at the Dang Wangi police station.

All four are being investigated under Section 4(1) of the Sedition Act and Section 27(5) of the Police Act in relation to the recent 'launch' of the Bersih 2.0 rally.

Fadiah (above, second from left) was questioned under the Sedition Act on her presence in support of Bersih 2.0 chief S Ambiga when the latter filed a police report at the Travers police station over a SMS death threat.

Speaking her mind about the episode, Nurul Izzah (left) expressed concern over the police officers' line of questioning, claiming that it appeared as if the authorities had already made up their minds to take the same line as Umno-owned newspaperUtusan Malaysia.

“They asked me who are the organisers, and (who are the) sponsors of Bersih... Both these questions were raised in Utusan Malaysia, which is owned by Umno, so we fear that it looks like prejudice and bad faith towards us," she told reporters after her statement was taken.

PKR supreme council member Latheefa Koya, who acted as counsel for all four, said the police also asked Nurul Izzah if there was no other "polite" way apart from a mass gathering, and whether or not she knows if the rally would be troublesome for businesses.

Latheefa claimed further that the officers handling the investigations said that they were acting "on orders from the top" and did not give any basis for the probe.

'Threat is from police, not public'

Fadiah, who with Surendran acted as counsel for national laureateA Samad Said (below) when the latter was called for questioning over the same issue yesterday, claimed that it is clear that the police are "not acting freely".

"They are following the tune played by the BN government, to stop this movement to demand free and fair elections.

“The mainstream newspapers claim that (Bersih) will cause chaos, but just look at our neighbours Indonesia. Hundreds of thousands recently took to the streets to march on Labour Day, but there were no problems as the police took care of traffic and the safety of the demonstrators... Why can't we do that?

"Suhakam said that we have every right to demonstrate peacefully in this country, so why are the police saying otherwise? The threat of chaos is made by the police themselves, and not us unarmed citizens," she said in reference to the Human Rights Commission.

Sivarasa, meanwhile, told the government to either take heed of Suhakam's recommendations and allow the Bersih rally to go on, or close down the statutory body set up to monitor the country's human rights issues.

"Let's not pretend that this country has an interest in human rights and has set up a human rights institution, when you are going to ignore it and go against it all the time," he said. - Malaysiakini