Fahmi Reza to sue govt over travel ban snafu

Summary

• Fahmi Reza intends to flip the script on the government and take it to court over the “confusion” that led to him being barred from leaving the country yesterday.

• The artist-activist is not impressed with the prime minister and the IGP’s explanation on the matter, whom he says only deflected blame and took no responsibility.

Artist-activist Fahmi Reza wants to sue the government after he was blocked from leaving the country yesterday.

He said the responses from Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s office and Inspector-General of Police Razarudin Husain only passed the blame around instead of taking responsibility.

“I don’t see anyone in the government taking responsibility for their mistake, which caused my freedom of movement to be restricted.

“You simply said ‘there’s no official restriction’. But the reality was that I was still restricted yesterday. I still couldn’t leave the country, I was still denied my right as a citizen.

“I am just a regular citizen. You guys restricted me, troubled me, wasted my time and money, and then just washed your hands without admitting guilt,” he said in a statement today.

Fahmi said if the rakyat did something wrong, the government would not hesitate to drag them to court.

Hence, he said it was time to flip the script - to show that the government is not invincible and that it should fear the people, not the other way around.

“You guys always asked me to ‘use the proper channels’, right? Okay, let’s meet in court,” he said.

‘No travel ban issued’

Yesterday, Fahmi claimed that an immigration officer at the airport told him that the Bukit Aman federal police headquarters had not granted him permission to leave the country.

He had wanted to go to Singapore for a punk concert.

In response, Anwar’s office today said that the prime minister had asked police to review the travel ban.

Razarudin, in turn, said that police have not imposed a travel ban on Fahmi.

However, the top police officer said the artist’s name is on an internal police monitoring list as he is part of an ongoing investigation.

He said the travel restriction imposed on Fahmi yesterday was incorrectly issued, and chalked it up to “confusion”.

Two weeks ago, Fahmi was denied entry into Sabah and was deported upon arrival at the Kota Kinabalu International Airport.

Late last December, he was arrested in Sabah for putting up caricatures that painted Sabah governor Musa Aman as a corrupt individual. He was later deported from the state in early January.

PM orders review of Fahmi Reza's travel ban, IGP clarifies confusion

Lift travel ban against Fahmi Reza, DAP Youth urges authorities

Fahmi Reza finds out he's barred from overseas travel on his birthday

Student group slams Sabah govt for barring Fahmi Reza

Fahmi Reza deported on arrival in Sabah

The long wait - Fahmi Reza gives 'Mr Bean' twist to Sabah scandal