Eleven people who were given a discharge not amounting to an acquittal by the Shah Alam Sessions Court today for illegal assembly were re-arrested 90 minutes later after the prosecution amended the original charges against them.

The group was given a discharge not amounting to an acquittal by judge Nordidah Ahmad at about 10am but were told to remain on the court premises while the prosecution amended the original charges.

The 11 were then re-arrested and charged again at 11.30am with illegal assembly and failure to disperse when ordered to during the Keadilan-sponsored 100,000 People's Gathering along the Kesas highway on Nov 5 last year.

Judge Nordidah had earlier released the 11 after the prosecution failed to specify in what way they had committed illegal assembly, citing an earlier Kuala Lumpur High Court decision.

On April 13, High Court judge Zulkefli Ahmad Makinudin ordered a reformasi activist, Goh Keat Peng, to be discharged not amounting to acquittal after it found that the charge framed against him was not specific enough and therefore "defective and bad in law".

Similarly, the Sessions Court on May 14 discharged without acquitting Keadilan vice-president Tian Chua and reformasi activist Abdul Malek Hussin from charges of illegal assembly two years ago on the same grounds.

The group of 11 was originally charged under Section 27(4) of the Police Act for illegal assembly but deputy public prosecutor Mohd Hanafiah Zakaria later amended the charges to include both illegal assembly and failure to obey orders to disperse. The times and places of the offences were also amended.

The charges carry a maximum sentence of a fine not exceeding RM10,000 or a jail term of up to one year or both.

The 11 are Monashofian Zulkarnain Putra, Aida Idris, Muhamad Tarmidzi Abd Rahman, Sahri Bahari, Pospanlinggam Sinakaru, Md Abd Nasir Md Isa, Ahmad Faisal Chek, Mat Dan Hassan, Abdul Razak Ismael, Mohd Salim Lal Din and Saeden Wateh.

They are alleged to have committed the offences from 2pm and 7pm between Km21 and Km27 of the Kesas highway.

The group claimed trial and hearing was fixed for Sept 3. All of the accused were granted an extension of their bail ranging from RM1,500 to RM2,000.

Tear gas

An initial 126 were arrested during the Kesas highway gathering last year but 115 were later released without being charged.

The gathering was the subject of a Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) inquiry which began on Nov 29 following complaints of police brutality.

The inquiry chaired by former Chief Justice of Malaya Anuar Zainal Abidin, former Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Law faculty dean Mehrun Siraj and Sabah Civil Service Commission chairman Simon Sipaun ended on Mar 27 after hearing the testimonies from 46 witnesses.

They included Keadilan president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, PAS parliamentarians Muhamad Sabu and Mahfuz Omar, a 17-year-old SPM student and several police officers from the Special Branch, the Federal Reserve Unit (FRU) and the Public Order and Riot Unit (Poru).

Also among the witnesses at the inquiry were Pospanlinggam, Salim, Monashofian and Saeden who claimed they were temporarily blinded by police tear gas fired during the gathering.