The 'old' Anwar may be finally back when he spoke up for the SOSMA victims ...but alas, he too seems to be much confused about the difference between SOSMA, and the other draconian Detention without trial laws like POCA and SOSMA....
SOSMA - can only be used for certain 'security' offences which now includes also that list of offences regarding 'actions detrimental to parliamentary democracy.
If SOSMA used, no need to bring person arrested before magistrate within 24 hours - police can hold for up to 28 days..
When a person is charged, the SOSMA is used to deny BAIL - that means these victims 'stay in jail' until their trial and even their appeals are over...(this now could be years)...Are the 'victims of SOSMA' in Sg. Buluh really persons who have been charged, waiting for their trial to be over - and, because SOSMA was used, they were denight the right to BAIL???
Now, if POCA or some other Detention Without Trial laws were lused...then they are detained indefinitely, two years at a time, for an undefined period. The victim also cannot challenge in court the REASON used to detain/restrict him/her under POCA, POTA...
Anwar is right ...“I do not condone violence, terrorism or compromise with any criminal act. We should be tough and firm....“But we must respect due process,...'
That is exactly the reason why Najib is still walking around free....Everyone must be presumed innocent until he is proven guilty...in court after a fair trial.
That is why there must be the RIGHT TO A FAIR TRIAL - It matters not whether the police. the prosecutors or even the Prime Minister is 100% convinced that a person is GUILTY - the person that needs to be convinced is the Judge after a fair trial. Yes, the prosecution must PROVE that the accussed is guilty beyond reasonable doubt...and the accussed has a right to defend himself/herself... If the Judge is convinced, he will CONVICT and then sentence ...If any party feel that there has been a mistake, one can appeal to the higher courts...
SHOULD THE GOVERNMENT BE ALLOWED TO KEEP IN DETENTION PERSONS THEY(the police/government) SUSPECT ARE 'CRIMINALS'....? Rule of Law and Justice DEMANDS that this answer be NO...
Hunger Strike 215 SOSMA victims - PH-led Government stop using SOSMA and DWT laws NOW...pending repeal?
Reading media reports, listening to Minister's comments, listening to prison department officers, reading media reports ...one is confused about who exactly are these people who went on 'hunger strike' - SOSMA victims(these would most likely persons who have been charged in court, awaiting their trial, whose BAIL was denied because SOSMA was used...remember SOSMA can only be used for 'security cases' listed in the Act itself... not for 'organised crime')
OR are these people victims of Detention Without Trial laws - POCA, POTA, etc ...and not SOSMA?
FUNNY ...how Pakatan Harapan leaders/MPs not taking RESPONSIBILITY themselves for the continued existence of SOSMA...and possibly still being used in the past 100 days....
FUNNY
...how Pakatan Harapan leaders/MPs not taking RESPONSIBILITY themselves
for the continued existence of POCA and other Detention Without Trial laws.....and possibly still being used in
the past 100 days....
FUNNY THAT THEY BEHAVE AS THOUGH STILL OPPOSITION MPS - WHEN THEY ARE TODAY IN POWER...AND THEY ARE RESPONSIBLE ...YOU CANNOT BLAME POLICE(WHO COMES UNDER GOVERNMENT OF THE DAY CONTROL...)
FUNNY HOW SOME MPs...even MINISTERS trying to shift blame to HOME MINISTER (Muhyiddin), etc ...
HAS OUR ATTORNEY GENERAL EVEN PREPARED THE DRAFT BILL FOR THE REPEAL OF THESE LAWS...HAVE HE PROVIDED HIS DETAILED REASONS FOR THE NEED FOR IMMEDIATE REPEAL?
....
Anwar urges remedial action for Sosma hunger strikers
Incoming PKR president Anwar Ibrahim has called for immediate remedial action to be taken over the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 (Sosma) detainees who went on a hunger strike yesterday.
“I do not condone violence, terrorism or compromise with any criminal act. We should be tough and firm.
“I do not condone violence, terrorism or compromise with any criminal act. We should be tough and firm.
“But we must respect due process, and from what I know and observed in Sungai Buloh (prison), the new law Sosma is far worse in terms of treating prisoners than the Internal Security Act 1960 (ISA).
“Those who are protesting, those prisoners under Sosma, must be given adequate safeguards of their rights,” he said in his speech during the launch of a book titled Anwar Returns: The Final Twist at the Hilton Hotel in Kuala Lumpur today.
It was reported yesterday that about 215 Sosma detainees at the Sungai Buloh prison – where Anwar was once detained – were on a hunger strike that began at 8am on Friday.
They said their protest would not cease until the government gives its assurance that it would abolish Sosma, or until they are each granted a discharge not amounting to an acquittal.
They were joined yesterday by family members who gathered outside the prison in solidarity with their relatives inside.
Sungai Buloh MP R Sivarasa, who met with the family members during the protest, advised them to produce a written memorandum which he said he would deliver to the home minister and the de facto law minister.
'Not right for a democratic society'
At today's event, Anwar criticised the treatment of detainees under Sosma in prison, saying that they are kept in solitary confinement, given restricted access to their families, lawyers as well as time to exercise.
He said there should be a law to deal with perpetrators of terrorism, but he believed the provisions under Sosma are too “vague.”
Such laws, he added, are not the right legal framework for a democratic society.
“What I’m questioning is the blanket vague range of legal flexibility that may allow the authorities to decide without recourse (for the detainees).
“This, I think, may not be the right legal framework for a free, democratic country,” he said.
Anwar also said he would take up the issue with Home Minister Muhyiddin Yassin.
Attorney-general Tommy Thomas assured yesterday that the abolishment of the contentious security law was "just a matter of time."
The sentiment was shared by de facto Deputy Law Minister Hanipa Maidin, who visited the Sosma detainees at the Sungai Buloh prison today.
After his visit, he said 118 of the detainees had agreed to end their hunger strike. - Malaysiakini, 26/8/2018
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