Lawyers for Liberty (LFL) has hit out at attorney-general Abdul Gani Patail over the “double standards” practiced with regard to the case of Perkasa president Ibrahim Ali.

LFL executive director Eric Paulsen, on Abdul Gani’s explanation that Ibrahim could not be charged over his threat to burn the Bible because ‘there was no element of intent’, questioned why similar treatment was not given to others charged with sedition.

“It was quite astonishing how the AG bent over backwards and sought to explain every ambiguity in Ibrahim’s speech in his favour.

“(So), what about the ‘full context’ when he charged Khalid Samad, N Surendran, Azmi Sharom or Teresa Kok?

“Are we to believe that their statements were more offensive and seditious than Ibrahim’s?” queried Paulsen.

Slamming Abdul Gani for giving preferential treatment to Ibrahim while being “trigger-happy” with the opposition and dissidents, Paulsen said the AG’s action reeks of “double standards and selective prosecution”.

“Such blatant double standards merely reinforce public perception that the AG is not independent and acts at the behest of the government to prosecute the opposition and dissidents for political offences.

“We therefore urge the AG to keep to his promise by immediately reviewing all pending sedition cases by using the same considerations he had given to Ibrahim,” said Paulsen.