Allow bail for certain offences under Sosma, says lawyer

 

A lawyer says a provision allowing for detention after acquittal, pending appeal, violates a person’s liberty and is an affront to the court’s ruling. (File pic)

PETALING JAYA: A lawyer has called for a review of a provision in the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 (Sosma) that denies bail for those charged with organised crime and human trafficking offences.

T Harpal Singh said it could take between two and five years for trials to be completed in the High Court. When bail is refused, the accused persons are forced to languish in prison.

“Bail should be offered as these offences do not involve violence or disturb public order,” he told FMT, adding that current provisions found in Sosma are harsh.

Harpal said that these days, the police and prosecutors tend to rely on Sosma, a procedural law, when investigating and during prosecution, instead of the Criminal Procedure Code and the Evidence Act 1950.

He said Sosma was widely used to charge a person with organised crime offences under Chapter 6B of the Penal Code and under the Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants Act 2007 (ATIPSOM).

As an example, Harpal cited two ATIPSOM cases which he handled where the clients, who had spent four years and six months in prison, were eventually acquitted.

“It was unfair to detain my clients for such a long period of time,” he said, adding that as a result of the long remand period, their families also lost their breadwinners.

He said the suspects’ and their family members’ bank accounts would also be frozen under the anti-money laundering law.

Harpal said Sosma could be used if an accused was charged with offences relating to terrorism under Chapter 6A of the Penal Code.

Lawyer S Preakas also called on the government to remove a provision in Sosma that keeps an acquitted person in prison until the prosecution has exhausted its final appeal.

“This deprives the person of his liberty and is an affront to the court’s ruling,” he said.

In comparison, Preakas said those charged with offences such as murder and drug trafficking, which carries the mandatory death penalty upon conviction, would also be denied bail.

“However, they are freed from custody once the trial court acquits them of the charges faced,” he said.

Preakas said it was illogical to continue holding someone in custody once the courts had acquitted them of the organised crime or human trafficking offences they were charged with.

The penalties for both of these crimes range between five and 20 years in jail.

Last week, home minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail indicated that the government would not be reviewing Sosma.

This led to a backlash from several quarters, including members of the PH-led unity government, PH MPs, human rights NGOs, and activists. They accused PH of backtracking on reforming the law.

However, repealing Sosma was not among the pledges listed in PH’s manifesto for the recent general election (GE15).

Saifuddin later acknowledged that certain provisions in Sosma would need to be reviewed “from time to time”, though the minister reiterated there would not be any amendments to the Act for now. - FMT