ISA: Suaram activist released

Suaram activist Cheng Lee Whee who was detained under the Internal Security Act (ISA) last night, has been released after spending 19 hours in a police lockup.

She was released at 6.04pm from the Johor Jaya police station. She was also ordered to report to court on Nov 1.

Nyam Kee Han, who is Suaram’s Johor coordinator, when contacted today said police went to Cheng's house at 2pm and took away her computer and thumb-drive as evidence.

The eight-man police team was at Cheng's house for about an hour. A group of eight Suaram supporters followed the police there, in a show of support for Cheng.

Nyam said that he was informed by Cheng’s lawyer that a magistrate this morning rejected a police remand for her to be detained for four more days.

The lawyer, said Nyam, argued on the grounds that 26-year-old Cheng has cooperated fully with the police since her detention.

Fight for justice continues

When contacted by Malaysiakini today, Cheng said, "I did nothing wrong," adding that she will continue fighting for justice.

Cheng believes she was arrested over a complaint she posted on a police website.

When contacted, Johor police chief Mokhtar Shariff stressed that Cheng was issued a remand order early this morning and had the right to hire a lawyer for her defence.

Cheng was detained under Section 28 of the ISA for ‘dissemination of false reports’ following a police report she made accusing the police of abuse of power in Thursday’s controversial demolition of a squatter colony in Johor.

Section 28 does not empower the police to detain a suspect without trial.

The suspect must be brought to court within 24 hours, either to be charged or be further remanded to facilitate police investigations.

According to the section, "Any person who, by word of mouth or in writing or in any newspaper, periodical, book, circular or other printed publication or by any other means spreads false reports or makes false statements likely to cause public alarm, shall be guilty of an offence."