Najib hauls govt to UN over his alleged arbitrary detention

 

Former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak has hauled Malaysia to the United Nations (UN) over his alleged arbitrary detention.

His lead defence counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah told a media briefing today that the petition was filed digitally at the UN Human Rights Council Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (UNWGAD) this afternoon.

Back on Aug 23 last year, the apex court in Putrajaya denied Najib's appeal to quash his 12-year jail sentence in the RM42 million SRC International corruption case.

Najib is currently serving his jail term at Kajang Prison.

His application to review the judicial verdict is set to come up for hearing before a new quorum of the Federal Court in Putrajaya on Jan 19.

During the press conference at law firm Shafee & Partners at Bukit Tunku in Kuala Lumpur this afternoon, Shafee said they filed the petition to get UNWGAD to ask Malaysia for a release or retrial of Najib in the SRC case.

The lawyer said Najib is seeking the UN body’s panel of five experts on international justice to rule that the Malaysian apex court’s dismissal of his appeal was “unjust, flawed and violated his basic human rights and the Federal Constitution”.

Shafee claimed that the Federal Court did not give Najib’s lawyers sufficient time to prepare for the appeal by allowing an adjournment of the appeal hearing.

Lead defence counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah

“In essence, Najib had been sent to jail without the opportunity to defend himself at the Federal Court.

“The final few days of the appeal, in August, amounted to a ‘rushed justice’ when his lawyers were not allowed the time that was obviously needed to read the many tens of thousands pages of the appeal papers or to come to grips with the 94 grounds of appeal that his previous lawyers had filed.

“The UNWGAD which will hear the appeal comprises of five distinguished human rights judges. They will not be called upon to decide whether Najib is guilty but to determine whether his trial was fair and if not, may call upon the (Malaysian) government to release him or provide him with a retrial.

“Although this decision is not directly binding, it is very influential especially as Malaysia has a distinguished jurist who is currently a member of the working group,” Shafee said.

Prepared to proceed with review

The lawyer pointed out that some of the UNWG’s strongest advocates included Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim whom he claimed had told the Cambridge University Press that “I felt a renewed sense of hope that the wheels of justice are still churning”, and that the UN body’s opinion was “an important milestone on my journey to freedom”.

When asked by the media whether Najib’s legal team would be using the petition to the UN to seek for the apex court in Putrajaya to postpone the Jan 19 hearing of the SRC review, Shafee said they are prepared to proceed with the review on that day.

The lawyer added that Najib is relying on both the review in the judiciary and the UN petition via diplomatic channels as two separate avenues for the former prime minister to seek justice in the SRC case.

Shafee added that a copy of the UN petition has been served on the International Affairs Division of the Attorney-General’s Chambers in Putrajaya. - Mkini