KUALA LUMPUR: Bersih 2.0 chairman Maria Chin Abdullah was among nine persons who faced charges of illegal assembly and sedition yesterday for events held earlier this year.

Chin and seven others pleaded not guilty to participating in the #KitaLawan rallies held in February and March.

Chin, Jingga 13 chairman Mohd Fariz Musa, Bersih 2.0 secretariat manager Mandeep Singh, Bayan Baru member of parliament (MP) Sim Tze Tzin, activist Adam Adli Abd Halim, Teja statesman Chang Lih Kang, Batu MP special officer Rozan Azen Mat Rasep and PKR member Lee Chean Chung were all charged under Section 4(2)(c) of the Peaceful Assembly Act 2012 for taking part in the street protests on Feb 21 and March 28.

Only Fariz was slapped with two charges for taking part in the #KitaLawan street protests held on both dates.

All the accused were granted bail of RM500 each in one surety.

They were represented by lawyers Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan, Ramkarpal Singh, Amer Hamzah Arshad, Eric Paulsen and Latheefa Koya.

The ninth accused, former PAS Youth treasurer Fakhrulrazi Mohd Mokhtar was charged with sedition for a speech made during the #KitaLawan protest in February.

He also claimed trial to the charge.

Magistrate Muhammad Faizal Ismail granted bail of RM1,000  with one surety to Fakhrulrazi.

Subang MP Sivarasa Rasiah was also due to be charged with sedition yesterday, but the charge was postponed on health grounds.

The #KitaLawan rallies which took place in front of the Sogo shopping complex and at the Kuala Lumpur City Centre were held to protest against the jailing of former opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, the goods and services tax and the Barisan Nasional leadership. — The Malaysian Insider

This article first appeared in digitaledge Daily, on September 9, 2015.