Eleven charged for illegal assembly
Ajinder KaurPublished: Apr 9, 2001 11:24 PM | Updated: Jan 29, 2008 10:21 AM
Eleven supporters of sacked deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim were today charged for illegal assembly and defying police orders to disperse. They were charged under Section 27(4) of the Police Act 1967 for taking part in an illegal assembly and under Section 27(5) of the same act for defying police orders to disperse.
Upon conviction, the charges carry a maximum fine of RM10,000, a jail sentence not exceeding one year or both. The reformists pleaded not guilty and were released on a RM2,500 bail in one surety. Magistrate Ezhanie Teh Azman Teh fixed March 21 for mention to fix a hearing date for the case.
Among the 11 arrested by the police yesterday included KeADILan Youth deputy secretary N. Gobalakrishnan, DAP member Yap Weng Keong and key reformasi activist Abdul Malek Hussain.
They were among the estimated 200 protestors who turned up in front of the High Court yesterday where sacked deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim's sodomy trial resumed after it was postponed for two months.
The detainees were brought into the courtroom in handcuffs at 11am. They looked cheerful and spoke freely to the journalists.
"I was arrested by five policemen. One of them kicked me," Gobalarishnan told malaysiakini. He added however, that there were no bruises from the "attack" but he felt pain in his back and left rib.
Another detainee Norazimah Mohd Nor said that she and another woman who was also arrested yesterday, Khaliah Shaik Mohamad, were taken to the Wangsa Maju police lock-up after being arrested.
"We were given coffee and bread only at 10 this morning, the first time we had something to eat and drink since our arrest yesterday," the mother of five said.
Meanwhile the magistrate's court today postponed the trial of another eight reformasi activists to April 24.
Among the eight who were scheduled to be on trial today for illegal assembly on Sept 11 were KeADILan Youth chief Mohd Ezam Mohd Noor, Anwar's former private secretary Azmin Ali, former law lecturer Badrul Amin, film director and malaysiakini columnist Hishamuddin Rais, political secretary of Opposition Leader Fadzil Noor, Dr Hatta Ramli, and Harakah cartoonist Zunar.
In another development, Anwar's sodomy trial was abruptly adjourned when High Court Judge Arifin Jaka asked defence counsels to locate the former deputy prime minister's passport.
Lead counsel Christopher Fernando had earlier showed the judge photocopies of the passport to prove that Anwar could not have sodomised former family driver Azizan Abu Bakar on the stated date.
Anwar and his adopted brother Sukma Darmawan are charged with sodomising Azizan at Sukma's apartment on "one night at 7.45pm, between January and March, 1993".
According to Fernando, the passport, which had expired, was not in Anwar's custody.
Upon conviction, the charges carry a maximum fine of RM10,000, a jail sentence not exceeding one year or both. The reformists pleaded not guilty and were released on a RM2,500 bail in one surety. Magistrate Ezhanie Teh Azman Teh fixed March 21 for mention to fix a hearing date for the case.
Among the 11 arrested by the police yesterday included KeADILan Youth deputy secretary N. Gobalakrishnan, DAP member Yap Weng Keong and key reformasi activist Abdul Malek Hussain.
They were among the estimated 200 protestors who turned up in front of the High Court yesterday where sacked deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim's sodomy trial resumed after it was postponed for two months.
The detainees were brought into the courtroom in handcuffs at 11am. They looked cheerful and spoke freely to the journalists.
"I was arrested by five policemen. One of them kicked me," Gobalarishnan told malaysiakini. He added however, that there were no bruises from the "attack" but he felt pain in his back and left rib.
Another detainee Norazimah Mohd Nor said that she and another woman who was also arrested yesterday, Khaliah Shaik Mohamad, were taken to the Wangsa Maju police lock-up after being arrested.
"We were given coffee and bread only at 10 this morning, the first time we had something to eat and drink since our arrest yesterday," the mother of five said.
Meanwhile the magistrate's court today postponed the trial of another eight reformasi activists to April 24.
Among the eight who were scheduled to be on trial today for illegal assembly on Sept 11 were KeADILan Youth chief Mohd Ezam Mohd Noor, Anwar's former private secretary Azmin Ali, former law lecturer Badrul Amin, film director and malaysiakini columnist Hishamuddin Rais, political secretary of Opposition Leader Fadzil Noor, Dr Hatta Ramli, and Harakah cartoonist Zunar.
In another development, Anwar's sodomy trial was abruptly adjourned when High Court Judge Arifin Jaka asked defence counsels to locate the former deputy prime minister's passport.
Lead counsel Christopher Fernando had earlier showed the judge photocopies of the passport to prove that Anwar could not have sodomised former family driver Azizan Abu Bakar on the stated date.
Anwar and his adopted brother Sukma Darmawan are charged with sodomising Azizan at Sukma's apartment on "one night at 7.45pm, between January and March, 1993".
According to Fernando, the passport, which had expired, was not in Anwar's custody.
View Comments0