Amnesty urges police to drop probe on Nagaenthran vigil participants

 

Amnesty International has urged the police to drop their investigation against several activists for participating in the candlelight vigil held on Tuesday in solidarity with Nagaenthran Dharmalingam, a Malaysian death row inmate in Singapore.

In a statement today, the human rights group denounced it as an abuse of police power.

"It is shocking that the police are questioning several individuals simply for participating in peaceful assemblies and for exercising their right to freedom of expression.

"The investigations against New Sin Yew and Yohendra Nadarajan, officials of the Bar Council, and against Zaid Malek, Mahajoth Singh and Nabila Khairuddin of Lawyers for Liberty must be dropped immediately," said Amnesty International executive director Katrina Jorene Maliamauv.

Maliamauv said the police's practise of summoning participants after a gathering has already ended peacefully serves no purpose other than intimidation and made a mockery of the spirit of Article of the Federal Constitution, which guarantees all citizens the right to freedom of association.

"This abuse of power - in the form of threats of reprisal against those who participate in peaceful public protest - is unacceptable. The right to gather peacefully is guaranteed under the constitution and under international human rights law.

"Yet, in Malaysia, even if a public protest is permitted to proceed with minimal disruption from the police, they are almost always followed by investigations and potential prosecutions of organisers and participants," she said.

On April 26, Zaid, Mahajoth and Nabila were summoned by police for allegedly taking part in the candlelight vigil last Saturday. They were being probed under Section 9(5) of the Peaceful Assembly Act, and Rule 7 of the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Act.

New was investigated for participating in a protest on April 26, one day before Nagaenthran's execution, following the Singapore Court of Appeal's dismissal of his mother's final appeal to set aside his conviction and death sentence.

Nagaenthran, 34, had been on death row for more than a decade for trafficking 44g of heroin into Singapore, which has some of the strictest narcotics laws in the world. - Mkini