Urgent Appeal – Release Those 14 Individuals Arrested during a Solidarity Vigil at IPD Brickfields
By SUARAM (Suara Rakyat Malaysia)
The authority’s intolerance to peaceful assembly continued when the police arrested 14 individuals including one member of Parliament and two SUARAM Pogram Coordinators during a candlelight vigil outside the Brickfields district police station while they were gather to show support to Bersih’s activist Wong Chin Huat who been arrested under Sedition Act.
Eight of them were arrested around 9.20pm after they started the vigil at 9.00pm outside Brickfields district police station, this followed by the arrest of another six about an hour later.
They are detained in Brickfields district police station and been taken statement without the present of lawyers.
Those arrested were:
1. Melissa Wong Yuet Fun, 25
2. Temme Lee, 23 9 (SUARAM)
3. John Liu, 26 (SUARAM)
4. Liau Kok Fah, 47
5. Liew Thin Choi, 47
6. Law Teck Hao, 29
7. Chan Kim Ming, 34
8. Lee King Thim, 41
9. Lim Kar Mern, 24
10. Masturah Kamaruddin, 26
11. Joshua Hong Man Fatt, 40
12. Teo Nie Ching, 28, Serdang (Member of Parliament, Serdang)
13. Chai Chee Fatt, 32
14. Lim Hong Siang, 28
Background
Wong Chin Huat, an academic and activist of polls reform group, the Coalition for Free and Fair Elections (BERSIH), arrested by the police yesterday (5 May 2009), under Section 4(1) of the Sedition Act. Wong is believed to be arrested in connection to a press conference held in the morning of 5 May 2009, where he urged all Malaysians to wear black in protest of the Barisan Nasional (BN)’s takeover of the Perak state government from Pakatan Rakyat, a move seen by many as unconstitutional. He has been remanded for three days until 8 May 2009.
Urgent action needed:
Please write protest letters to the government and the police to express your strongest condemnation of the arrests and the ongoing denial of rights of expression. Please also demand the Malaysian government for the immediate and unconditional release the three activists.
Your protest letters should be sent to:
1. OCPD ACP Wan Abdul Bari Wan Abdul Talib
IPD Brickfields
Ibu Pejabat Polis Daerah Brickfields
Polis Diraja Malaysia
Jalan Tun Sambanthan
50470 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 03-22740222
Fax: 03-22730885
2. Inspector-General of Police
Tan Sri Musa Hassan
Ibu Pejabat Polis Diraja Malaysia ,
50560 Bukit Aman,
Kuala Lumpur , Malaysia .
Tel: +603 2262 6015
Fax: +603 2272 5613
3. Dato' Sri Mohd Najib bin Tun Abdul Razak,
Prime Minister of Malaysia,
Prime Minister's Office,
Main Block, Perdana Putra Building ,
Federal Government Administrative Centre,
62502 Putrajaya , MALAYSIA
Tel : 603-8888 8000
Fax : 603-8888 3444
E-Mail: [email protected]. my
SAMPLE LETTER
[Letterhead of your organization]
Prime Minister,
Dato' Sri Mohd Najib bin Tun Abdul Razak,
Prime Minister's Office,
Main Block, Perdana Putra Building ,
Federal Government Administrative Centre,
62502 Putrajaya , MALAYSIA
Tel : 603-8888 8000
Fax : 603-8888 3444
E-Mail: [email protected]. my
Dear Sir,
Re: Release those 14 Individuals Arrested during a Vigil Support to Wong Chin Huat
We are writing to you, once again, to express our outrage and our strongest condemnation over your government’s ongoing crackdown on freedom of expression.
We are appalled by your government and the police’s latest actions and view this as yet another attempt by your government to intimidate Malaysian citizens from exercising their freedom to express their views.
We demand that the 14 individuals should be released immediately and unconditionally. We further demand that your government stops the assault on freedom of expression.
We strongly urge you, once again, to stop bringing shame to Malaysia, a member of the United Nations Human Rights Council. We would like to remind you that freedom of expression and assembly is guaranteed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as well as the Federal Constitution of Malaysia.
Yours sincerely,
[Name]
