The Kuala Lumpur High Court today ruled that the police acted unlawfully in arresting five lawyers who went to provide legal assistance to 14 participants of a candlelight vigil who were held at the Brickfields police station five years ago.

Justice John Louis O'Hara also ruled that the arrests amounted to false imprisonment as they were held overnight and were also denied lawful representation.

“The five are lawyers from the Legal Aid Centre who were sent there to assist with the 14 in the candlelight vigil outside the Brickfields police station following the police arrest of Wong Chin Huat.

“At all times they were standing in front of the guard house and were having telephone conversations with the 14 arrested, advising them not to sign any documents under Section 28 of the Criminal Procedure Code given by the police which may deny them legal access to the lawyers,” he said.

One of the plaintiffs, Fadiah Nadwa Fikri ( left ), called the investigating officer, Supt Jude Blacious Pereira, who was in a  meeting and he refused to meet them.

O’Hara said the then-Brickfields OCPD, Wan Abdul Bari Wan Abdul Khalid, then ordered the lawyers to disperse and giving them three minutes to do so.

“However, the police proceeded in arresting the five lawyers and held them overnight until they were released the next morning at 4am. The lawyers were not charged,” said the judge..

‘Jude not credible’

He also questioned the credibility of then-arresting officer Supt Jude for providing questionable reasons for the arrest.

“SP6 had changed his testimony several times in giving reasons under Section 28 in denying the lawyers access to legal representation

“This led the court to arrive and doubt the authenticity of the reason put forwarded by Jude and doubt his credibility (in denying the lawyers legal representation,” O’Hara said.

This is the third time that a court of law had found Jude ( left ), who is also the investigating officer in the Anwar Ibrahim case, not to be a credible witness.

The first follows the hearing conducted  by the Malaysia Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) following the arrest of these five lawyers which was chaired by former commissioner Muhammad Shafee Abdullah.

In its findings, Suhakam also ruled that the arrest was unlawful and the police were criticised for their actions.

This is followed by KL High Court Justice Zaleha Yusof not allowing Jude to be a practising lawyer following the Suhakam finding, where she also ruled that the former police officer had given false evidence during the Suhakam hearing and the matter cannot be forgiven as it affected basic rights.

“He acted mala fide and these are not the characters we want to be advocates and solicitors as Jude is not honest or sincere and as such, how how would the public react when they become his clients,” Justice Zaleha had written in the judgment.

This is followed by O’Hara’s judgment today that also noted that Jude had changed his testimony several times when brought to the witness stand as the last defence witness in the civil action by the five lawyers.

The arrest is unlawful, said the judge and the five lawyers were denied their constitutional right to legal representation when Bar Council lawyers went there.

"With this, the court awards RM15,000 in general damages and another RM60,000 in aggravated and exemplary damages for each of the five plaintiffs,” he added.

In total, the court awarded RM375,000 in damages to the five lawyers. O'Hara also awarded RM100,000 in legal costs.

The affected lawyers are Fadiah Nadwa, Murnie Hidayah Anuar, Puspawati Rosman, Syhaini Safwan and Ravinder Singh Dhaliwall

They named among others Constable Noor Balkhis Maazin, ACP Wan Abdul Bari Wan Abdul Khalid, Pereira, Constable Fauziah Mustafa, Inspector Azlina Norazli,  Lance-Corporal Saha'ri Ehwa, and the inspector-general of police as defendants.

'Court sends clear signal'

Sivarasa Rasiah said this is a landmark decision as the judge ruled on Section 28 of the CPC and the police should take note of this and not abuse their powers in not giving the people their right to legal representation.

Sivarasa was acting for the four female lawyers, while Ravinder was represented by Chethan Jethwani.

“The police have to be careful not to deny legal representation to anyone, especially to lawyers,” he said.

Fadiah Nadwa, in commenting on the decision and award, said they filed the action on their own separate from the Bar Council as they felt the police action was wrong.

“This decision should give a lesson to police not to arrest lawyers who are merely doing their job to provide legal representation. We are merely doing our job and the police cannot deny anyone of legal representation,” she said.