Taxi driver files suit to remove LTTE as terror group from govt gazette

Some of those accused of supporting the LTTE during an earlier court appearance.

KUALA LUMPUR: A taxi driver, one of 12 men charged with supporting and in possession of materials linked to the defunct Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), has filed an action to compel the home minister to remove the group as a terrorist organisation from a gazette notification.

Lawyer Omar Kutty Abdul Aziz, who is appearing for B Balamurugan, said High Court judge Mariana Yahaya would hear the judicial review application tomorrow.

“We are now seeking leave of the court to remove the gazette notification approved by the minister in 2014,” he told FMT.

Omar said the application was filed early last month and court papers had been served to the Attorney-General’s Chambers.

He said the charges against the 12, including two assemblymen, would no longer be sustainable if Balamurugan’s application was allowed.

On Oct 29, Balamurugan was charged in the Sessions Court with supporting the LTTE at an event held at the Kuala Kangsar Municipal Council hall (Sungai Siput Utara branch) on Dec 28, 2014.

He also faces two charges of possessing items with elements of terrorist acts or related to the LTTE, in a mobile phone at Sungai Siput Utara taxi station on Oct 10 last year.

A similar offence was allegedly committed at Taman Bukit Medan in Sungai Siput Utara on the same date.

If found guilty he could face a minimum seven-year jail term and maximum life imprisonment or 30 years’ jail plus a fine.

His case has now been transferred to the High Court in Kuala Lumpur and is waiting for a trial date to be fixed.

Last week, judicial commissioner Ahmad Shahrir Mohd Salleh, who rejected Gadek assemblyman G Saminathan’s attempt to be freed on bail pending the outcome of his trial, said the court was bound to uphold the gazette listing of the LTTE as a terror group unless it had been revoked by the home minister.

Shahrir said the only way that LTTE could be removed from the gazette was for the minister to conduct a review which he was duty-bound to do every six months, and that it did not matter if the LTTE was declared defunct in other jurisdictions such as the European Union and the group’s country of origin, Sri Lanka. - FMT