Traumatised Ahmad lodges police report for own safety

Ahmad Abd Jalil, who is accused of insulting the Johor sultan, has lodged a police report following threats on Facebook to physically hurt him.

The police report lodged at the Petaling Jaya district police headquarters this afternoon also called for the police to be investigated for wrongful arrest.

“There were calls made on Facebook on a page called ‘Kesultanan Johor’ (Johor Sultanante) asking that Ahmad be persecuted and if he steps foot in Johor, he will be beaten up.

“So the police have to make sure that he (Ahmad) is safe from their own people and the ordinary people calling for Ahmad’s head,” lawyer Fadiah Nadwa Fikri told journalists after the police report was lodged.

Yesterday, Johor Baru Sessions Court judge Zamri Bakar freed Ahmad (left) on bail after he was charged under the Communications and Multimedia Act.

He had earlier been detained for seven days, initially under the Sedition Act, without being informed of which post had purportedly insulted the royalty.

Fadiah said that the Ahmad’s arrest was unlawful as he was never informed the grounds of his arrest.

“He was held incommunicado for the whole time and was subjected to severe mental torture during the interrogation.

“Ahmad wants the police officers involved to be investigated for abusing their powers for arresting him without any grounds even though it was incumbent upon them to inform what are the grounds of arrest,” she said.

Meanwhile, Ahmad said he had been treated unjustly and called for the Bukit Aman police headquarters to investigate the matter.

“I was (mentally) tortured and my rights was denied, it was totally wrong. I demand that Bukit Aman take this seriously and investigate this case independently,” he said.

Harassment and intimidation

According to his elder sister Asiah, several members of the family had earlier planned to accompany their sibling to the Shah Alam police headquarters to lodge the report at about 7pm yesterday.

However, they were advised to lodge the report at 3pm today at Section 8, Petaling Jaya.

“We were advised by our lawyer to lodge the report due to intimidation and harassment that we have receive since Ahmad was detained,” the 30-year-old law student told Malaysiakini.

Ahmad now faces two charges of insulting Sultan Ibrahim where on the first count, he is alleged to have uploaded insulting remarks in a Facebook account registered under ‘Zul Yahya’, at Dewan Tan Sri Mohamad Rahmat in Kampung Pasir, Tampoi at 3pm on Oct 21.

The 27-year old quantity surveyor is accused on the second count of committing a similar offence at the Johor police contingent headquarters media centre at 6pm on Oct 10 , Bernama reported yesterday.

The charges are framed under Section 233(1)(a) of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998, punishable under Section 233(3) of the same Act.

Ahmad faces a fine of not more than RM50,000 or a jail term of not more than ay ear if convicted, and an additional fine of RM1,000 for each day he continues to commit the offence thereafter.

His family posted the bail of RM10,000 (RM5,000 each in one surety) with Nov 28 fixed for the case to be rementioned.

Ahmad was first arrested on Friday and brought to Johor Baru to be probed but after a three-day remand, he was rearrested and further detained for another three days.

His family, which includes nine other siblings, hail from Penang, while he currently lives with his wife and parents in Kuala Lumpur.

Their home in Klang was searched by four policemen from Johor at dawn yesterday but the family refused to give their statements to the police without the presence of their counsel.

Ahmad, married about two months ago, will also lodge a report for “unlawful arrest and detention” at 3pm today at the Section 8 Petaling Jaya police station.