Friday 29 Mar 2024
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KUALA LUMPUR: Police will remand Lawyers for Liberty (LFL) co-founder Eric Paulsen for two days after arresting him on Monday night for accusing a federal Islamic authority of spreading extremism through Friday sermons.

One of his lawyers, Sivarasa Rasiah, said among the reasons police gave for the two-day remand were the need to take Paulsen’s fingerprints, his statement, and to search his home.

Sivarasa said the remand was unnecessary as Paulsen was being investigated over a tweet and could be charged immediately.

“Our argument is if police are of the opinion that his tweet was an offence, bring him to court,” Sivarasa said at a press conference at the Dang Wangi police station in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

Police had initially applied for a four-day remand but the court only gave a two-day remand order, Sivarasa added.

Besides Sivarasa, six other lawyers — N Surendran, Latheefa Koya, Dheeraj Bhar, G Sivamalar, Michelle Yesudas and Shahid Adli — were at the police station yesterday.

They said Paulsen would be released today.

“His detention ... is an abuse of power by the police ... because there are no grounds to hold him in the lockup.

“If they think his words were an offence, the A-G can charge him. It is unreasonable, against the law and an oppression against Eric.”

Sivarasa added that police could take Paulsen’s fingerprints and statement without having to remand him, as he would be going to the police headquarters in Bukit Aman for an interview today.

The directive to detain the human rights lawyer was influenced by politics and statements by the national leadership, Sivarasa said, referring to a statement made by Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.

Bernama reported on Monday that Muhyiddin wanted police to act against Paulsen, and hours later, police moved to arrest him.

Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar had tweeted about the arrest and had gone on to post that Paulsen was “arrogant”, while warning others not to collaborate with Paulsen in destroying Malaysia’s harmony. — The Malaysian Insider

 

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on January 14, 2015.

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