Thursday July 7, 2011

MP and PSM colleagues file applications for release

KUALA LUMPUR: Sungai Siput MP Dr Michael Jeyakumar Devaraj and five of his colleagues in Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM), all detained under the Emergency Ordinance, have filed habeas corpus applications for their release on grounds that their detention is unlawful.

The applicants named the Inspector-General of Police, the Home Minister and the Government as respondents.

Lawyer Edmund Bon, representing the six, said they have had no access to counsel and their family members since their arrest and detention.

“The grounds of their application are that there is no basis for their detention.

“It is a political detention because of the Bersih rally,” Bon said after filing the applications at about 3.30pm at the High Court criminal registry here yesterday.

In KUANTAN, lawyer Mohd Fadzli Mohd Ramli, 33, and businessman Abdul Manaf Md Hassan, 41, claimed trial in the Sessions Court to having Bersih 2.0 T-shirts at the Kampung Mentara PAS operations centre in Rompin at about 10.50pm on July 2.

In KAJANG, 11 municipal councillors were called to face charges at a magistrate's court yesterday but were informed that their case had been postponed to today.

The charges against them are believed to be related to their wearing of Bersih 2.0 T-shirts at the full council meeting on June 29.

In ALOR SETAR, padi farmer Abdul Lateb Jaafar, 51, and his wife Rosnani Hamid, 48, claimed trial in a magistrate's court to possessing five Bersih 2.0 T-shirts in a car at a roadblock at Jalan Kubang Rotan at about 9.05am on July 2.

They also pleaded not guilty to an alternate charge of abetting an illegal organisation in a planned gathering in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday.

In KOTA BARU, businessman Zakaria Che Wil, 39, pleaded not guilty at a magistrate's court over the sale of 388 Bersih 2.0 T-shirts at Jalan Pati on July 1.

Magistrate Nur Zakiah Samsudin allowed bail of RM4,000 with one surety and fixed Aug 9 for mention.

In PARIT, Perak, newspaper vendor Mohd Salleh Yusop, 58, pleaded not guilty in a magistrate's court to having 13 Bersih 2.0 T-shirts at the Batu Gajah wet market at about 12.45pm on July 3.

In GEORGE TOWN, several Pakatan Rakyat leaders lodged police reports over the circulation of SMSes that implied they would pay RM200 per person to attend the Bersih 2.0 rally on Saturday.

DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng said there was no truth in the SMSes.

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