Govt slammed for barring human rights lawyer
Opposition party Keadilan said the government's decision to bar Indonesian human rights lawyer Dr Adnan Buyong Nasution (
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) from entering the country was not only "disgraceful" but "insensitive" as well.
Party secretary-general Sahri Bahri said the government owed the Indonesian people an apology for the treatment meted out on the lawyer and his colleague Paskah Irianto who was also barred.
Speaking at a press conference at the Keadilan headquarters in Petaling Jaya yesterday, Sahri demanded an assurance from Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi that such an incident will not recur.
He added that the Indonesian lawyer should be permitted entry into the country in future.
On Tuesday night, Adnan and his colleague were denied entry by immigration officers at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport.
However, another colleague, Dr Bunga Kejora Trihusodo, was allowed to enter.
Bunga told reporters yesterday that when asked for the reason, one of the officers had said that "it was a directive from the country's leader".
Adnan, who rose to prominence during the reformasi era, was invited by Keadilan to speak on jailed ex-deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim.
He planned to take his case to the International Commission of Jurists, of which he is a member, on the basis that the act to deny him entry was "undemocratic and without basis".
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