Families, lawyers blocked from seeing EO captives, Malaysian police are morons

Relatives of the six detainees gather outside the Bukit Aman police headquarters, July 4, 2011. — Picture by Choo Choy May

KUALA LUMPUR, July 4 — Families and lawyers of six PSM members currently held under the Emergency Ordinance were today barred from visiting the group, despite earlier reports by state-run media that visitations would be granted.

Lawyers Edmond Bon, Amer Hamzah Arshad, K. Arumugam, Yudhistira Dorai, and Fatima Ismail met with the police officer in charge for about an hour to negotiate for access, but came away empty handed.

“During the discussion, we have given the reasons as to why we have to see the detainees under the Constitution and the Criminal Procedure Code.

“Every citizen detained has the right to be defended by lawyers and lawyers have to be given access to them as soon as possible,” Bon told reporters here outside the Bukit Aman Police Headquarters.

“We have made an application to see our clients. We have also made a strong case for the family to see them.”

Bon said detainees were brought here at 10pm on Saturday.

Bon said police had decided to deny them access to the detainees even before being met. — Picture by Choo Choy May

The detainees are Sungai Siput MP Dr Jeyakumar Devaraj, 56; PSM deputy president Sarasvathy Muthu, 58; Choo Chon Kai, 31; R. Saratbabu, 25; Sukumaran Munisamy, 50; and A. Letchuman, 42.

The six were detained for allegedly “waging a war against the Yang di-Pertuan Agong” after they were found with T-shirts bearing the likenesses of former communist leaders.

Today, Bon argued that the detainees are not a threat to national security, adding that there was no credible proof to indicate the detainees were a threat to public peace.

“We have also asked for reasons for arrest and we were told they were arrested under Section 3 Emergency Ordinance because they are a threat to national security,” said Bon.

“We have also asked for the two detainees to show up for their court case tomorrow as well as one other detainee who had to sit for his law exam,” Bon said, adding that requests were denied.

The Malaysian Insider understands that Sarasvathy and Sukumaran are due in court tomorrow for participating in a price hike protest in 2008, while Saratbabu has an examination scheduled.

“Despite our requests, despite the rights to access to counsel, the police have made up their mind even before they saw us that they will deny all rights,” he said.

The human rights lawyer said they will be file for habeas corpus soon, and that they will be back at the police headquarters tomorrow with a Commissioner of Oath to affirm the affidavit for the detainees.

“The Emergency Ordinance is dated 1969, it is a law for the Stone Age and it is something that no civilised society like ourselves, hoping to be a developed nation in 2020, should ever need to go through again or ever use.

“So we are flabbergasted, we are unhappy and we will have to continue fighting through all legal processes,” he said.