After waiting for almost five years, migrant worker activist Irene Fernandez’s appeal is finally being heard in the Kuala Lumpur High Court on Jalan Duta next Tuesday.

In the longest running case in Malaysian legal history, the Tenaganita director was charged under the Printing Presses and Publication Act for publishing false news in March 1996.

rela public hearing 170807 irene fernandez She had written an expose of the dehumanizing conditions in immigration detention centers through a memorandum entitled ‘Abuse, Torture and Dehumanized Conditions of Migrant workers in Detention Centers’ in July 1995.

She was subsequently arrested by the police at her home and charged under Section 8A(1) of the Act. The maximum penalty for this offence is imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years or a fine not exceeding RM20,000.00 or both.

Fernandez in her 1995 memorandum released by Tenaganita documented consistent abuse, torture, denial of access to lawyers, denial of proper medical care, widespread diseases, lack of food and water and even deaths in the detention camps due to negligence on the part of the authorities.

It was based on information the migrant worker NGO received from interviews with more than 300 ex-detainees from various countries.

While the memorandum raised international concerns, the Malaysian authorities promptly denied that anything was amiss and instituted criminal proceedings against Fernandez.

The government had also refused to conduct its own independent inquiry concerning alleged mistreatment of migrant workers in detention centres.

In 2003, after seven years of trial, Fernandez was sentenced to twelve months imprisonment by magistrate Juliana Mohamed at the KL Magistrate's Court.

She immediately made an appeal to the High Court and for a stay of execution of the sentence and is currently out on bail with her passport impounded by the courts since the conviction.

The hearing will be made before justice Haji Mohamad Apandi Haji Ali. Fernandez will be represented by M Puravalen and M Moganambal.

Won libel suit

The outspoken social activist won a libel suit against Malay daily Utusan Malaysia last October over an article concerning the memorandum that she wrote.

High Court judge Tee Ah Sing awarded Fernandez RM200,000 in general damages, with costs and interest, over the article that was published in Utusan Malaysia in its Fokus column on Sept 20, 1995.

irene fernandez utusan malaysia 261007 lawyers The suit also named writer Johardy Ibrahim as co-defendant in the suit. He is currently an assistant news editor of the paper.

The court also granted a permanent injunction to stop the defendants or their agents from repeating the libel.

In his 104-page handwritten judgment Justice Tee ruled that the defendants did not give the plaintiff an opportunity to comment before the article was published and deemed that as irresponsible journalism.

The article claimed that Fernandez had failed to cooperate with the police in their investigation into allegations in a memorandum.

It had also portrayed her as a disloyal citizen and cited her for treason for tarnishing the country’s image by bringing up these issues.