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Lawyer: Cops must've seen health event banner after 8 hours at 'gay party'
A lawyer has questioned the police’s narrative and insistence that an event they raided in Kelantan last month was a “gay party” and not a health event.
Samantha Chong, who represented three men who were nabbed at the raid, said that there was a banner at the venue clearly stating that it was a “program mesra kesihatan komuniti” (community health outreach programme).
Summary
Lawyer Samantha Chong questions how the police could’ve missed a health event’s programme banner if they had surveilled the supposed “gay party” for eight hours.
Police have insisted that the programme was a “gay party”, to which Chong posted images of the banner and HIV prevention presentation slides used for the event in response.
Justice for Sisters also disputes the police’s claim that no health workers were present at the programme.
A lawyer has questioned the police’s narrative and insistence that an event they raided in Kelantan last month was a “gay party” and not a health event.
Samantha Chong, who represented three men who were nabbed at the raid, said that there was a banner at the venue clearly stating that it was a “program mesra kesihatan komuniti” (community health outreach programme).
The banner had the logos of Sahabat - the organising NGO - as well as the Health Ministry and Malaysian Aids Council.
“If they (police) were there, they should have seen the banner,” Chong told Malaysiakini.
8-hour stakeout
Yesterday, Kelantan police chief Yusoff Mamat insisted that the event on June 17 was a gay party.
He cited an invite spread through WhatsApp, which was for a community “gathering and chill” event that did not mention that health officers or NGOs would be involved.
Yusoff said police had also staked out the location from 5pm before taking action at 1am.
Responding to the senior police officer, Chong posted images from the event on her Facebook, showing the health programme banner as well as slides from a presentation on HIV prevention.
In her post, she also refuted Yusoff’s justification using the WhatsApp invite.
“The invite didn’t say NGOs were involved. But what was the outcome of the investigations?” she asked.
Chong also pushed back against the police’s dismissal of health workers’ involvement at the event, as there were none present during the raid.
“The fact is, the lecture and programme had ended, and then only the police did their raid. Doctors had gone back (by then),” she said.
Justice for Sisters (JFS) co-founder and researcher Thilaga Sulathireh had earlier told Malaysiakini that seven NGO health outreach workers were present when police raided the event.
On the charges against her three clients for possessing pornographic material, Chong said, contrary to what Yusoff tried to imply, the words “same sex” and “gay party” were not uttered during court proceedings.
The three had pleaded guilty and were fined between RM3,000 and RM4,000 each.
Additionally, the lawyer said that the condoms police purported to have seized at the event were also not presented in court.
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