It is the government's prerogative to deport anyone from the country if they see fit, said deputy home minister Nur Jazlan Mohamed.

He was referring to the Al Jazeera journalist Mary Ann Jolley who was deported while in the midst of making a documentary on the murder of Mongolian national Altantuya Shaariibuu.

"The government reserves the right to basically ask anyone to leave the country," he said to reporters at an event titled 'ICC-IMB International Meeting on Global Piracy, Armed Robbery and Maritime Security'.

However, he insisted that this issue is old news as it happened three months ago in June.

In the course of making her documentary, Jolley was abruptly deported from Kuala Lumpur on June 14, after the Home Ministry deemed her activity as having a "potential negative effect on the image of Malaysia".

On a separate matter, Nur Jazlan ( photo ) said that the Sept 16 red shirt rally is illegal as long as they do not get any permission from the site owners of wherever they plan to gather.

This is because the Peaceful Assembly Act only allows legal assembly at areas gazetted as public places.

However, since there have been no areas gazetted as such, the rally organisers would need the site owner's permission.

It was reported earlier today that the organisers had gotten permission from DBKL to use Padang Merbok for their rally on Sept 16.

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