'False afterthought' - Lawyer dismisses MCMC's clarification on activist's probe

Lawyer Zaid Malek has dismissed the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC)'s clarification that activist Hishamuddin Rais is not a subject of its investigation, as a "false afterthought".

According to the Lawyers for Liberty director, he cited the police report that initiated the probe (against Hishamuddin), and it was specifically made against Hishamuddin's post on his "TukarTiub" blog, rather than the original post written by former MP Tamrin Ghafar.

"When Hishamuddin's statement was recorded, I was present as his lawyer. All the questions directed to him were related to establishing elements of an offence under Section 233(1)(a) of the Communications and Multimedia Act (CMA) against him.

"These questions included ownership of the blog, whether the post was uploaded by Hishamuddin, or whether he had verified or fact-checked the article before uploading it," Zaid said in a statement today.

"From this line of questioning, any reasonable person can see that Hishamuddin is the subject matter of the investigation. In short, he was treated throughout as a suspect."

Hishamuddin was questioned for more than two hours on Thursday, at the Brickfields police station in Kuala Lumpur, over a blog post that raised questions about Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s health.

Earlier, police personnel and MCMC officers also checked Hishamuddin's computer hard drive at his house.

Intimidation, harassment

In the blog post republished by Hishamuddin, Tamrin, the son of former deputy prime minister Ghafar Baba, said he was called to the Bukit Aman police headquarters on April 30 over another article he wrote, which was also related to Anwar.

Yesterday, the MCMC said that Hishamuddin was not the subject of its investigation. Instead, he was merely quizzed to facilitate a probe into an ongoing case, the commission said in a statement.

Elaborating, Zaid questioned why the police and MCMC officers subjected his client's house to a search, including without a warrant, if he was not the subject of an investigation.

"The authorities also invoked section 249 of the CMA and forced Hishamuddin to surrender his username and password for the MCMC forensics to conduct an analysis of the blog.

"These are not actions taken against someone who is a mere witness to the offence; it is painfully obvious that Hishamuddin himself was the subject of the probe under section 233(1)(a) of the CMA.

"MCMC now denying that Hishamuddin is being investigated is a mere afterthought to cover the obvious intimidation and harassment against him for highlighting criticisms against the prime minister," Zaid said.

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