Jail, fine for Perak PAS supporters harsh, disproportionate, says law reform group

Lawyers for Liberty executive director Eric Paulsen questions the different standards in prosecuting Umno supporters against Pakatan Rakyat supporters. – The Malaysian Insider pic, March 18, 2015.Lawyers for Liberty today expressed shock at the 10-month jail sentence and RM5,000 fine imposed on 13 activists at the Court of Appeal for protesting against the swearing-in of Datuk Seri Zambry Abdul Kadir as Menteri Besar of Perak in 2009.

Eric Paulsen, the executive director of the human rights and law reform group, said the court should have taken into consideration the "exceptional extenuating circumstances" surrounding the protest.

He said it was by and large peaceful and aimed at preventing a highly-controversial “coup d'état” of a legally-elected Pakatan Rakyat government in Perak.

"The sentence is certainly harsh and disproportionate compared with the mere RM1,500 fine imposed on 15 men, mostly Umno members, who barged into the Penang state legislative assembly last year, threatened its occupants and also destroyed property," he said in a statement today.

Paulsen said the sentence had unfortunately reaffirmed public perception that the law was being applied selectively and unevenly to the opposition and their supporters while Barisan Nasional officials and their supporters were rarely prosecuted for similar offences.

"In the rare instances pro-government supporters are prosecuted, they are mostly treated with kid gloves as exemplified by the RM1,500 fine imposed on the Penang protestors.

"We call upon the courts to safeguard the Constitution and in particular to uphold the fundamental freedoms guaranteed therein including freedom of speech, assembly and association and not let the government’s political interest override everything else, including legitimate dissent," he said.

This morning, the 13 PAS supporters, who protested the appointment of Zambry along the road leading to the palace in Kuala Kangsar, Perak where the BN leader was to take his oath, were transferred to jail after the sentence was read out.

They were initially fined RM5,000 and sentenced to two years' jail by a Sessions Court judge. The High Court later maintained the fine, dropped the jail sentence and released the protestors.

Last Wednesday, 16 men, who were mainly from Umno, pleaded guilty to an alternative charge under Section 447 of the Penal Code for criminal trespass when they intruded into the Penang legislative assembly to intimidate Penang State Assembly secretary M. Maheswari on May 21, 2014 at 1.30pm.

Fifteen of them were fined RM1,500 while the last accused, who was a spectator of the incident, was fined RM1,000.

They were initially charged with house-trespass that carried a slightly heavier penalty – jail of up to one year and fine of up to RM2,000 or both.

- TMI