Former Umno leader Khairuddin Abu Hassan has been slapped with the full 28-day detention allowed under the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 today, but his lawyers are seeking to challenge the order.

Khairuddin’s lawyer Mohammad Rafique Rashid Ali said the order was made at the Dang Wang district police headquarters at 4pm today, and would expire at the same time on Oct 21.

He said Khairuddin has instructed him to challenge the order through the High Court, which he intends to do as soon as possible.

“It is our client’s instruction that it is unfair to use the Sosma on him for the basic reason that the Sosma was enacted to counter terrorist acts. He said he does not have any intention to be a terrorist, so to speak.

“He only exercised his constitutional rights to lodge police reports,” Rafique told Malaysiakini when contacted today.

Sosma is a set of special procedures for handling a range of security offences prescribed in parts of the Penal Code.

Under Section 4(5) of Sosma, a police officer of superintendent in rank or above may extend a detention for up to 28 days for investigation, after an initial period of 24 hours from the time of arrest.

Reports lodged around world

Khairuddin had been lodging reports with authorities around the world against Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak and 1MDB, including in Switzerland , France , UK , Singapore and Hong Kong .

He was supposedly scheduled to meet the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) in the US, but he was barred from leaving the country as he attempted to do so on Sept 18 and was subsequently arrested hours later.

He was investigated under Section 124C of the Penal Code for activities detrimental to parliamentary democracy, and was also remanded for six days until yesterday.

Upon release however Khairuddin was immediately re-arrested under Sosma, and was investigated under Section 124K and 124L of the Penal Code.

Section 124K and 124L deals with sabotage and attempted sabotage against the state, respectively.

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