Lawyer, PAS slam AG for dropping LTTE charges

(Yahoo.news) – Attorney General Tommy Thomas has come under fire for allegedly usurping the powers of the Home Minister and the police by suggesting that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) did not pose a threat.

Lawyer Haniff Khatri Abdulla reminded Thomas that the LTTE was still regarded as a terrorist organisation in Malaysia, as its Sri Lankan leader Selvarasa Pathmanathan was arrested in Kota Damansara in August 2009, three months after the terrorist organisation surrendered in Sri Lanka.

“So, how can he justify claims that LTTE activities stopped in May 2009,” he said, adding that the AG should not draw comparison to stands taken by Sri Lanka and European Union that had removed LTTE from their terror alert list.

Haniffs said this in response to Thomas’ decision on Friday (Feb 21) to drop 34 charges against 12 individuals accused of being involved with LTTE, although the prosecutors had already charged them in court in October.

“It in unfair for the AG to intercept and drop the charges,” he said.

Haniff said if Thomas believed that the LTTE should be expunged from the list of terror organisations, he should advise the Home Minister.

“But the AG can’t override the Home Minister’s discretion (to retain the LTTE in the list of terror organisations). The AG can’t usurp the powers of the police.

“It is premature for the AG to draw his own conclusions,” he said.

Haniff also ticked off Thomas for claiming that it was unacceptable to charge individuals for offences allegedly committed six years ago.

“It is strange that the AG had said that the passage of time is unacceptable for such a case.That is a very dangerous statement, because in criminal law, time is of no essence,” Haniff said.

Haniff described the excuses given by Thomas to drop the charges as surprising.

“Thomas has set a dangerous precedent as others detained under Sosma can use his declaration to escape prosecution and sue the government for detaining them,” he said.

Meanwhile, PAS information chief Kamaruzaman Mohamad also slammed the move and said the excuses given by Thomas to justify his action contradicted police findings and the Home Minister’s stand.

In a statement Saturday (Feb 22), PAS also demanded Thomas’ sacking over the matter.

“We call upon the Attorney General to retract his order to drop the charges, or be prepared to be challenged in court.

“We also call upon the government to curb the absolute power vested in the AG,” he said.

In making the announcement on Friday, Thomas said there was no realistic prospect of conviction for any of the 12 accused on any of the 34 charges.

“Even if there were elements of a ‘terrorist act’ on the part of all or any of the 12 accused of possessing, distributing or displaying such photos of Prabhakaran, it would be impossible for the prosecution to establish that they do not fall within the excluded category of Section 130B(4) of the Penal Code in that they merely constitute ‘advocacy, protest or dissent’,” he said in a statement.

Thomas added that it was common-place to have idols to whom hero-worship was displayed.

“It is not just pop stars, sportsmen or actors who are admired; historical personalities and politicians are often the subjects of adoration.Thus, millions of people across the globe admire Lenin, Stalin, Mao Tse Tung or Che Guevara and the like.

“Having their photos and other representations in one’s mobile phone or on a Facebook account does not transform one into being a terrorist,” he said.

The 12 were detained by the Federal Police’s Counter-Terrorism Division on Oct 10 and 12 last year in various parts of the country.

They were two DAP politicians – Melaka executive councillor G. Saminathan, who is Gadek assemblyman, and Seremban Jaya assemblyman P. Gunasekaran.

The others were taxi driver V. Balamurugan, 37; postman S. Teeran, 38; scrap metal trader A. Kalaimughilan, 28; a chief executive officer of a corporation, S. Chandru, 38; technician S. Arivainthan, 27; storekeeper S. Thanagaraj, 26; security guard M. Pumugan, 29; school teacher Sundram Renggan @ Rengasamy, 52; DAP member V. Suresh Kumar, 43, and businessman B. Subramaniam, 57.