Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah) has raised concerns over alleged political interference in the arrest and detention of a Sabahan youth activist last night, over his Facebook posts critical of the state government.

Amanah’s legal bureau (Kanun) deputy chairperson Wan Anwar Wan Ibrahim claimed "political instructions" had led to Gerakan Anak Muda Selamatkan Sabah founder Jufazli Shi Ahmad's arrest.

“Kanun was made to understand that the action against Jufazli was based on a political instruction.

“We condemn in the strongest term any attempts to abuse powers through political intimidation,” said the Amanah Youth vice-chief in a statement.

It is understood that Jufazli was picked up by police at a mall in Kuala Lumpur and taken to the Jalan Travers police station, before taken to the Jinjang police lock-up.

Wan Anwar said investigations are being carried out under Section 500 of the Penal Code (defamation), Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998, as well as Section 4(1) of the Sedition Act.

Wan Anwar, together with four other lawyers from Kanun, earlier accompanied Jufazli for his remand hearing at the Jinjang police lock-up.

Wan Anwar said while police had requested a four-day remand order, they were only granted three days, including time to bring Jufazli back to Sabah for further investigations.

The Magistrate Court’s decision, he said, followed objections by the lawyers on grounds that Jufazli had offered full cooperation to investigations during his detention.

“Investigations against him were also only based on critical postings against the (Sabah) state government uploaded on his Facebook, which the police or the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission can have access to on their own,” he said.

In the meantime, Wan Anwar said that his team would be liaising with its counterparts in Sabah to monitor the ongoing investigations.