The government of Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has been told to abolish the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 (Sosma) and stop using the oppressive law against detainees who are awaiting fair trial and justice.
The message was conveyed by the families of Sosma detainees outside the Kajang Prison this morning during the pre-trial case management there involving 34 individuals who have been accused of being members of the organised crime group, “Geng 08 GST”.
Most of the 34 men were detained under Sosma on June 23 this year, while the remaining were nabbed soon after. They were later charged under Section 130V(1) of the Penal Code, which carries a jail term of up to 20 years upon conviction.
Abe Rameshwary, 42, was upset that her husband has not been given a trial date despite being in detention for nearly six months.
She said this was unfair as the families have been denied the opportunity to meet the detainees, leaving them clueless about the detainees’ wellbeing.
“This is brutality, if you ask me. We never spoke with our family members, not even one word. We don’t even know if they are alive,” she said.
Besides her 44-year-old husband, Abe said, her husband’s four cousins, aged between 20 and 44, were also detained.
She also expressed unhappiness over the way the detainees were treated, as if they were terrorists.
“Why are only Indians held under Sosma? Have you seen the way they were brought away? (It’s like the police) thought they were escorting Saddam Hussein,” lamented Abe.
“I am not asking for much. I am not saying that everyone is innocent, some of them have past (criminal) records. But if they have stopped (committing crimes) and have repented, why put them back in jail?
“What I want is a fair trial and for the abuse of Sosma to stop. My request is that they (the authorities) not prolong the case,” added Abe, who is a tutor from Balakong, Selangor.
‘They deserve a second chance’
Meanwhile, a woman only known as Mala also appealed to the government to repeal Sosma and stop using the law against her 37-year-old husband and other detainees.
“I beg the government to abolish Sosma and not to charge my husband under Sosma. This is not the right thing to do,” she said.
While noting her husband was once jailed in Singapore for five years, she said he deserves a chance to change his life following his release.
“Release them if they have done nothing wrong, just give them another chance to change their lives,” she said.
She said she suffered financial burden following her husband’s detention as she could not run his security guard business.
Meanwhile, an activist from rights group Suaram, Azura Nasrom, said Sosma gives board powers to the police to arrest whomever they want for 28 days without charging them in court and deny them bail until the case is disposed of.
“Why not just investigate first and arrest later, instead of arrest and investigate,” she asked.
Lawyer Shalvin Kanvinchelvan, who is representing one of the 34 detainees, said the court had fixed hearing dates in 2024 during case management today.
“The hearing date is set on July 15 to 19, 2024, Aug 19 to 23 and Sept 23 to 27,” he updated the media after case management.
“Why are the dates so far away? This is because the court has no other free dates. So that was the earliest date given to us as of now,” he said.
“We were made to understand that the prosecution will call up to 50 witnesses,” he said.
As follow-up actions, Shalvin said some of the lawyers representing the detainees had applied for bail while others mulled submitting a representation to the Attorney-General’s Chambers.
It was reported that 28 of the detainees were charged under Section 130V(1) of the Penal Code in the Kuala Kubu Bharu Sessions Court on July 19 for being members of Geng 08 GST.
They were accused of joining the gang at the tin mine at Kalumpang, Hulu Selangor, between January 2019 and June 23 this year.
All of them were denied bail. - Mkini
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