We refer to the Malaysiakini report Court order bans gathering at state assembly .

Amnesty International Malaysia is deeply concerned over the continued use of blanket injunctions as reportedly obtained by the police for the Perak state legislative assembly sitting.

A blanket, unilateral restraining order against the general public is arbitrary and allows for abuse as the court order allows for the arrest and detention of any person within a stipulated range without any due process and a proper examination of the facts.

Amnesty is disturbed to learn that this is not the first time that the police obtained such a court order and that it has become the police’s standard practice to facilitate a mass crackdown on a peaceful assembly and to make blanket arrests arbitrarily.

Amnesty views such an injunction against the entire Malaysian public as a travesty and mockery of our Malaysian justice system. This is because such applications are made and granted based solely on one party’s prejudice that undermines the subjected parties’ right to be heard in an open court plus the right to answer the police’s allegations.

Amnesty is of the opinion that the court order was obtained purely to suppress and undermine freedom of expression and assembly, and gives the police arbitrary powers to arrest citizens who are only exercising their constitutional rights.

The court order also gives the police unlimited powers and enables greater abuse of power as it subjects the general public to a great risk of arbitrary arrest, detention, torture and other forms of ill-treatment and selective prosecution.

We believe the order undermines the fundamental freedom of assembly and movement guaranteed by our federal constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Amnesty would like to strongly remind the Malaysian police of their statutory duty to protect the interests and rights of the public.

The UN Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials spells out in Article 5 that no law enforcement official ‘... may inflict, instigate or tolerate any act of torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment or invoke superior orders or exceptional circumstances, such as a threat to national security, to justify these actions’.

Amnesty International Malaysia views that policing in Malaysia must adhere and observe a higher standard of human rights compliance. Any policing and public order exercise must clearly reflect and demonstrate human rights compliance.

The public must be assured of a professional, credible and human rights-compliant police service. We call on the Malaysian police to respect Malaysians’ right to their fundamental freedoms and stop the current practice of obtaining a unilateral court orders just to crack down on peaceful assemblies in Malaysia.

The writer is campaign coordinator, Amnesty International.