• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • RSS
  • Archives
  • Subscribe
The Nut Graph

The Nut Graph

Making Sense of Politics & Pop Culture

  • Projects
    • MP Watch
    • Found in Conversation
  • Current Issues
    • 6 Words
    • Commentary
    • Features
    • Found in Quotation
    • News
  • Columns
  • Interviews
    • Exclusives
    • Found in Malaysia
  • Multimedia
    • Audio
    • Pictures
    • Videos
  • Corrections
  • Letters to the Editor
  • Vault
    • Found in Translation

Lawyers, activists acquitted of illegal assembly

April 16, 2009

KUALA LUMPUR, 16 April 2009: Four lawyers and three activists were acquitted and discharged by the Sessions Court here today of being in an unlawful assembly and failing to adhere to police orders to disperse two years ago.

Judge SM Komathy Suppiah, in acquitting them without calling for their defence, said the prosecution had failed to make out a prima facie case against lawyers Amer Hamzah Arshad, Latheefa Beebi Koya, N Surendran and R Sivarasa, and activists Eric Paulsen, Johny Andu @ Abu Bakar Adnan and Nooraza Othman.

The group was also acquitted and discharged of two alternative charges of taking part in an illegal assembly and failing to adhere to police orders to disperse.

They were alleged to have committed the offences during the “People’s Freedom Walk” in front of the Kamdar building in Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman between 8.10am and 8.50am on 9 Dec 2007.

Komathi ruled that even though the defence agreed that it was an illegal gathering, the commanding officer, who also the acting Dang Wangi OCPD, Supt Che Hamzah Che Ismail, had given the group 10 minutes to walk from Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman to the Bar Council Building.

She said Che Hamzah had testified that he was not sure whether the arrest was carried out after or before the 10 minutes grace period.

“The prosecution submitted that the order to disperse was disobeyed when the accused persons failed to disperse and continued with the walk.

“In my view, the accused persons can only be said to have disobeyed the order to disperse after the lapse of the 10 minutes grace period given by Supt Hamzah,” said Komathy.

She said that in the absence of any other evidence from the prosecution to show that the group was arrested after the lapse of the 10 minutes grace period, it could not be said that they had disobeyed the order to disperse.

She added that the photographs and video recordings revealed that shops were still closed and there was minimal traffic along Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman since it was Sunday.

“The walk did not cause any obstruction to pedestrian or vehicular traffic as police were not required to put up road blocks or to divert traffic or deal with incidents of breach of peace as a result of the group walking along the road in conjunction with the World Human Rights Day,” she said.

The group was represented by counsel M Puravelan, while deputy public prosecutor Raja Rozela Raja Toran appeared for the prosecution. — Bernama

Filed Under: News Tagged With: acquitted, activists, Amer Hamzah Arshad, Che Hamzah Che Ismail, Eric Paulsen, illegal assembly, Johny Andu @ Abu Bakar Adnan, Latheefa Beebi Koya, lawyers, N Surendran, Nooraza Othman, police, r sivarasa, SM Komathy Suppiah, World Human Rights Day

Primary Sidebar

Search

Recent Comments

  • Wave33 on The Nut Graph stops publication
  • Adam on The Nut Graph stops publication
  • PSTan on The Nut Graph stops publication
  • PSTan on The Nut Graph stops publication
  • Andre Lai on The Nut Graph stops publication

Recent News

  • The Nut Graph stops publication
  • Nasihat tentang sepupu yang mengganggu perasaan
  • Uncommon Sense with Wong Chin Huat: The Sunni-Shia split and the answer to Muslim unity
  • Why Malaysia needs the national unity bills
  • Challenging government in the digital age: Lessons from Kidex
  • Najib’s failure
  • Babi, anjing, pondan: Jijik orang Islam Malaysia
  • Kidex and the law – What the government’s not telling you
  • Beyond Dyana Sofya
  • Uncommon Sense with Wong Chin Huat: Does Malaysia need hate speech laws?

Tags

Abdullah Ahmad Badawi Anwar Ibrahim Barisan Nasional BN Bukit Selambau by-election dap Deborah Loh Ding Jo-Ann Election Commission elections Found in Malaysia Found in Quotation Gan Pei Ling government high court Hishammuddin Hussein ISA islam Jacqueline Ann Surin Khairy Jamaluddin KW Mak Lim Guan Eng Malaysia MCA Menteri Besar MP Watch Muhyiddin Yassin muslim Najib Razak Pakatan Rakyat Parliament Parti Keadilan Rakyat pas Penang Perak PKR police politics prime minister Selangor Shanon Shah Umno Wong Chin Huat Zedeck Siew

Footer

  • About The Nut Graph
  • Who Are We?
  • Our Contributors
  • Past Contributors
  • Guest Contributors
  • Editorial Policy
  • Comments & Columns
  • Copyright Policy
  • Web Accessibility Policy
  • Privacy Policy
The Nut Graph

© 2025 The Nut Graph