Of coronavirus and press freedom

Last week, Wan Noor Hayati Wan Alias, a journalist and exco member of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) was charged in court for three Facebook postings relating to the novel coronavirus.

She was charged under Section 505(b) of the Penal Code, the offence of making statements “conducing to public mischief”.

Under the section, whoever makes, publishes or circulates any statement, rumour or report with intent to cause, or which his likely to cause, fear or alarm to the public, or to any section of the public whereby any person may be induced to commit an offence against the state or against the public tranquillity, shall be guilty of an offence.

The punishment is imprisonment of up to two years, fine or both.

It was reported that the NUJ has appealed to the Attorney-General for her charges to be dropped.

“Taking action against journalists or (the) media in a democratic country like Malaysia for expressing free speech will be seen as a regression in our democracy in the eyes of the public, not to mention by the international society as a whole,” NUJ general-secretary Chin Sung Chew said in a statement.

Similarly, international organisations such as International Federation of Journalists Asia-Pacific and Committee to Protect Journalists have also weighed in, saying that the charges against Wan Noor Hayati are an attack on press freedom.

Unfortunately, as many local journalists have pointed out, it is likely that both international organisations have not been given full and accurate information about the context of the three criminal charges.

Wan Noor Hayati purportedly published those three posts on her personal Facebook page. She was not doing so while on duty as a journalist.

This was not a case of a person who was charged for publishing a news report that made the powers that be uncomfortable.

Nor was it a case where it is an opinion piece about a public interest issue.

It was also not a situation where her views were suppressed by her editors, and so she had to publish the posts on her personal Facebook.

So by all accounts, the charges were unrelated to her occupation as a journalist.

The charges are not even for posting “fake news”, where there is an ongoing debate as to whether it is proportionate for the state to impose criminal sanctions.

The Attorney-General has issued a statement that to explain why he has opted for Section 505(b) to charge those who spread disinformation relating to the coronavirus and not the oft-criticised Section 233(1) of the Communications and Multimedia Act.

The charges are for statements causing public mischief; very specific and harder to prove.

Even if can be argued that this is indeed press freedom issue, the posts themselves would probably fall short of NUJ’s own code of ethics for journalists.

The code, which is published on NUJ’s website posits amongst others that “The journalist reports only in accordance with the facts of which he knows the origin” and “He will regard as grave professional offences the following, plagiarism, calumny, slander, libel and unfounded accusations.”

Make no mistake. Every person charged in court must be allowed to defend himself or herself against the charged.

The bedrock of the criminal justice system is the presumption of innocence and the right to a fair trial.

Ensuring that Wan Noor Hayati, just like any other accused person, has legal representation is expected of a union like the NUJ.

So too, raising money to pay for her bail. There are no issues with doing so.

However, this is not a press freedom issue. To make it seem like it is an attack on the media is to do disservice against the majority of journalists in Malaysia who carry out the duties according to the highest code of journalistic ethics.

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SYAHREDZAN JOHAN is a civil liberties lawyer and political secretary to Iskandar Puteri MP Lim Kit Siang. - Mkini