Eight people, including five lawyers, were charged today with participating in an illegal assembly yesterday. They also faced a further charge of disobeying the police order to disperse.

To add to this, another lawyer, Edmund Bon, was charged with obstructing Kuala Lumpur City Hall officers from performing their duties.

He was charged under section 186 of the Penal Code which carries a punishment of maximum three-months jail or a maximum fine of RM1,000, or both.

For the first batch of eight marchers, they were charged under Section 143 of the Penal Code for illegal assembly and under Section 145 of same code for failing to disperse. They also faced alternate charges under the Police Act.

For the first charge, Section 143 of the Penal Code allows for a six months jail or with fine, or both while Section 27 (5) Police Act carries a maximum of one-year jail sentence or a fine not exceeding RM10,000.

For the second charge, the Penal Code carries a two year-imprisonment sentence or fine, or both while Section 27 (4) of the Police Act which carries similar punishment as 27 (5).

All nine of those charged claimed trial at the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court. The prosecution was personally led by attorney-general Abdul Gani Patail - the government's highest ranking legal officer - who objected bail for all charged today.

The AG submitted his reasons for not wanting to grant bail to the eight on grounds that he believed they would repeat the offence and alleged that some were “notorious” to have repeatedly participated in illegal assemblies.

“The authorities specifically, through the media and in accordance with law, told the public to not participate in the assembly as it was illegal but this group defied the legitimate orders and went on to march. If this is so, I believe that they are very much capable of repeating the offence.” he said.

On his submission as to why Bon should not be granted bail, Abdul Gani said that the lawyer’s act of defiance would “create the perception that it is okay to defy the authorities”.

“This will create disorder and threat to the national security,” he submitted.

However, Sessions judge Komathy Suppiah rejected Abdul Gani's arguments and allowed bail for all the accused persons.

She set bail at RM2,000 each for the eight marchers, with hearing was fixed from Jan 28 to 31 next year.

Bon, on the other hand, was granted bail at RM1,000. His case will be heard from March 3 to 5 next year.

'Pak Lah politically insecure'

The eight marchers were arrested yesterday for taking part in a march in conjunction with the International Human Rights Day, which is celebrated today.

The police had arrested them soon after giving them time to disperse.

The eight include lawyers N Surendra, Latheefa Koya, R Sivarasa, Eric Paulsen and Amer Hamzah. The remaining three were Nooraza Othman, Johny Anbu @ Abu Bakar Adnan, Ashraf Sadakathullah.

Later in the day, Bon, who is the Bar Council’ human rights committee chairperson, was arrested for blocking DBKL officials from removing human rights banners outside the Malaysian Bar building in Leboh Pasar Besar in Kuala Lumpur.

One high-profile accused person, Sivarasa told Malaysiakini in the court today that the AG’s objection to bail was “indicative of the oppressive nature of this administration”.

“This shows that Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi is politically insecure,” he said.

“There were more police personnel at the march yesterday morning than the marchers.” he added.

The eight marchers were represented by M Puravelan, K Ragunath and Tommy Thomas. Bon also had a big team of lawyers to represent him, including Sri Kanth Pillai, Bernard Francis, Brendan Siva, Saha Deva, Richard Wee and Chan Weng Keng.