Inspector-General of Police Khalid Abu Bakar is acting in contempt of court by enforcing Section 9(5) of the Peaceful Assembly Act 2012, says lawyer Eric Paulsen.

 

This is because the Court of Appeal has last year ruled that this section is unconstitutional and therefore null and void, said Paulsen, who is also executive director of Lawyers for Liberty.

 

“He (Khalid) should not pick and choose the law he wants to enforce. There is no stay order on the Court of Appeal ruling.

 

“He is being clearly contemptuous of the court,” Paulsen told Malaysiakini when contacted last night.

 

Yesterday, Khalid ( right ) claimed that the Court of Appeal decision, which was delivered on April 25 last year, is being appealed, and therefore Section 9(5) of the Peaceful Assembly Act (PAA) is still valid in law.

 

The law imposes a fine of RM10,000 on those who fail to notify the police at least 10 days before holding a public rally.

 

The Court of Appeal had unanimously ruled Section 9(5) of the PAA to be unconstitutional in its decision on a case involving the then PKR Youth chief aspirant Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad.

 

Now the party Youth chief, Nik Nazmi was arrested again on Sunday under the same law and under Section 143 of the Penal Code for his role in organising the Kita Lawan rally on the day before.

 

Court application to seek early release

 

Paulsen said he applied to the High Court in Kuala Lumpur for a revision at 4pm yesterday, in an attempt to secure an early release for Nik Nazmi.

 

The revision seeks to overturn a remand hearing decision where the magistrate Mohd Azali Ibrahim allowed a three-day remand on the Selangor exco member.

 

“So (today) we will go and try to get an early hearing as soon as possible. Obviously, we would like to have the revision before the end of the remand period,” he said.

 

In the application letter sighted by Malaysiakini , Paulsen ( left ) argued that the decision to hold Nik Nazmi in remand for three days “has no basis, is illegal under the law and excessive”.

 

Besides pointing out that Section 9(5) of the Peaceful Assembly Act has already been declared unconstitutional, Paulsen also claimed that the police had not conducted any investigation nor recorded Nik Nazmi’s statement, despite holding him in custody for a day.

 

“It is certainly not diligent investigation as required by the law,” he said.