The Bar Council today submitted a memorandum to Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz pertaining to the arrest of five lawyers on May 7.

bar council memo in parliament 230609 02 The memorandum, which outlined what had transpired during the arrest, was submitted by Bar Council chairperson Ragunath Kesavan in Parliament.

Among others, the Bar Council said it wanted protocols to be set in place for access to an accused person and for the police to respect the rule of law

The five lawyers were arrested for illegal assembly after attempting to provide legal aid to a group of individuals who were nabbed during a candlelight vigil in support of Bersih activist Wong Chin Huat, who was detained under the Sedition Act.

All of them were released after being held overnight.

Meanwhile, Nazri, who is the de facto law minister, said he will look into the memorandum and take ‘positive action’ on matters that are within his jurisdiction.

As for issues concerning the police, he said the concerns will be forwarded to Home Minister, Hishamuddin Hussein.

The minister stressed that he wanted to see the rule of law being observed in the country.

There must be follow-up action

Speaking to reporters, Ragunath said the meeting with Nazri was positive but there must be follow-up actions.

"The minister has given an assurance to Bar Council that the government will give importance to the rule of law so I hope action will be taken to ensure such matters do not repeat.

"Access to lawyers is an important aspect of the criminal justice system and I think we should go back to basics to respecting the rule of law," he stressed.

A similar memorandum has been submitted to Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.

The Bar Council had previously lodged a complaint with the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) to conduct a public inquiry into the arrests.

bar council suhakam memo 5 detained lawyers incident 200509 ragunath They had also mentioned that they would not rule out suing the government on the matter.

Commenting on this, Ragunath said: "We are definitely filling a court action on behalf of the five lawyers."

However, he pointed out that there are provisions in the Suhakam Act that does not allow the body to proceed if a court action is filed.

"It is a sad day for an accused person when their lawyers turn up and are arrested. Arresting lawyers when they are carrying out their duties is a great travesty of justice," he said.

The five lawyers who were arrested, Fadiah Nadwa Fikri, Syuhaini Safwan, Puspawati Rosman, Ravinder Singh and Murnie Hidayah Anuar, were also present in Parliament.