Police raided the office of women's group Persatuan Kesedaran Komuniti Selangor (Empower) in Petaling Jaya this afternoon.

According to organisation's lawyer Honey Tan, the police are investigating the group under Section 124C of the Penal Code for activities detrimental to parliamentary democracy and also under the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 (Sosma).

"There are several Empower staff currently in the office and we (lawyers) are not allowed to enter.

"The police have been there for about an hour," said Tan.

Empower is an advocacy group aimed at encouraging female participation in the political process.

The group was founded by Maria Chin Abdullah, the present leader of Bersih, who is currently detained without trial under Sosma.

Bersih was once based at Empower's office, before relocating last year.

Threatened with arrest

Police were at the premise for approximately four hours from 12.30pm onwards.

An Empower official told reporters later that the police seized financial documents ranging back to 2013 and any documents related to Bersih.

There were 10 police personnel from the Bukit Aman police headquarters who were involved in the raid.

"They said that if I do not cooperate, they can arrest me under Sosma. We cooperated fully," said Empower finance officer Leong Mei Yun.

Her colleague Rizal Rozhan said Empower had nothing to hide.

"There was no reason for us not to cooperate," he said.

Empower's lawyers told reporters that it was wrong for the police to prevent them from representing their client during the raid.

Abuse of power

In an immediate reaction, human rights NGO Suara Rakyat Malaysia (Suaram) condemned the raid and the use of Sosma against Empower.

“The use of Sosma in such a manner is undisputed abuse of power.

“The attorney-general and the inspector-general of police cannot continue to dabble with the illusion that their attack against civil societies is a legitimate operation,” Suaram executive director Sevan Doraisamy said in a statement.

“They have time and time again failed to show any indication that Malaysian civil societies have ‘agendas’ to topple the government through undemocratic means.

“Their repeated attacks and irresponsible remarks only make them complicit with the abuse of powers by an unconscionable regime,” Sevan stressed.