Lawyers acting on behalf of those remanded in relation to the #TangkapNajib rally have asked the Kuala Lumpur High Court for a revision of the remand order. 

The revision under Section 325 of the Criminal Procedure Code was filed this morning, for the remanded persons Adam Adli Abdul Halim, Ahmad Syukri Ab Razab, and Mandeep Singh Karpall Singh.

 

Their lawyer Michelle Yesudas said there are seven grounds for revision, the strongest of which is that Mandeep ( right ) was arrested on basis of an untrue allegation.

 

“Mandeep was not present (at the press conference with Adam Adli and Ahmad Syukri).

"However during the remand, the magistrate had taken into account that he was present outside Dang Wangi on July 31, and this this aroused suspicion that he had a connection to the press conference that happened on July 30.

 

“But Mandeep was not present. We have raised this during the remand and the judge did not accept this. So this is the basis of our review,” she told reporters after filing for the revision.

 

The revision will be heard at the Kuala Lumpur High Court at 2.30pm tomorrow.

 

According to the letter that was filed to the court by the lawyers, Mandeep was at the office of The Edge at the time of the July 30 press conference.

Remanded at Jinjang detention centre

 

The trio was remanded at the Jinjang police detention centre on Aug 1 – six days for Adam Adli and Ahmad Syukri, and four days for Mandeep. They were arrested a day earlier.

 

Adam Adli ( photo ) and Ahmad Syukri were arrested when they turned up at the Dang Wangi police district headquarters to give their statement regarding the #TangkapNajib rally that was due to take place on Aug 1.

 

Mandeep later surrendered himself at the Petaling Jaya police district headquarters after the police conducted a search at his office.

 

At the #TangkapNajib rally itself, 29 more were arrested under Section 124B of the Penal Code for activities detrimental to parliamentary democracy, and Section 143 of the Penal Code for unlawful assembly.

 

Section 124B, which carries a jail term up to 20 years, is also being used to investigate the trio.

 

However, in arguing for their release, the lawyers pointed out that it is not an offence under Section 124B to organise a peaceful assembly.

 

The law also does not allow for a pre-emptive arrest against a peaceful assembly that has yet to take place, and the right to peaceful assembly is also enshrined under Article 10 of the Federal Constitution, they said.

 

In addition, they said that no investigation had been conducted during their client’s detention, nor were their statements recorded, despite ample time for the police to do so.

 

They noted that their clients had already informed that they would exercise their right to remain silent under Section 112(2) of the Criminal Procedure Code. Thus the argument that they needed to be held to record their statements, does not hold.

'Unprofessional conduct'

 

Meanwhile, another lawyer, Sivamalar Ganapathy ( photo ), complained to the media about the ‘unprofessional and unreasonable’ conduct of one of the investigating officers (IO) involved.

 

She claimed following the arrests on the Aug 1 rally, the officer based in Petaling Jaya did not communicate with lawyers of those arrested, nor allow them to meet their clients.

 

“This particular IO supposed to at least communicate with lawyers (and) tell them these people are being investigated under which section, (and) what is happening.

 

“When the lawyers kept calling him - I think all the lawyers kept calling him from morning until night - he didn’t answer single call to explain where they are being kept, under what section they are being investigated, what time is the remand next morning, are they going to be released under police bail or are they going to be kept there overnight?”

 

She urged the inspector-general of police Khalid Abu Bakar to take action against the officer for not following procedures.

 

“Everybody is upset with this particular IO because he is not answering us, not even phone calls from lawyers,” she said.

 

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