Report to court in two weeks, PAS 9 told

Nine PAS leaders and members arrested at the launch of an anti-ISA campaign in Ampang Jaya last night were released on police bail about 4am today by Pandan Indah police.

They are Kubang Kerian member of parliament Salahuddin Ayub, party vice-president Mohamad Sabu, Federal Territory Youth chief Kamaruzaman Mohamad, FT Unit Amal (volunteer wing) chief Sarifuddin Mohd Yatim, Mohd Sani Hamzan, Abdullah A Rahman, Mohd Amir Ali Mohd Shah, Hafiz Zulkifli and Azman Abdul Hamid.

Lawyer Edmund Bon (right) , when contacted, said Salahuddin and Mohamad will have to report to the Ampang Jaya Magistrate’s Court on Dec 8.

“The rest are to report to the same court the next day. We will see whether they will be charged or not,” he said.

Last night, about 100 people gathered at a field in Ampang Jaya for the event, but the police light strike force unit started dispersing the crowd just as Mohamad Sabu began addressing the crowd at 9.26pm. By 10pm, they managed to remove the people from the field.

Mohamad and Salahuddin were arrested later when they went to the Pandan Indah police station to inquire about those detained.

Ampang Jaya police chief Abdul Jalil Hassan later told the media that the police had to detain the men as the crowd had refused to disperse.

The organisers, Abolish ISA Movement, had allegedly ignored police advice not to proceed with the event as a police permit had not been issued.

Contacted today, Kamaruzaman claimed that all those detained had not been allowed to see their lawyers while in police custody.

“I asked an officer if I could see the lawyers, who I was told were waiting outside the station, but the officer did not respond,” he said, adding that the lawyers had left the premises by the time he was released at 3.45am.

Bon confirmed that lawyers were told they could not go inside the police station.

However, Abdul Jalil claimed otherwise, when contacted by Malaysiakini .

“We know they have the right to see their lawyers, so we allowed them to do so between the time they gave their documents and statements,” he said.

He also said the police will decide what to do about the nine, once the investigations are completed.

Indoor gatherings allowed in Selangor

Met in the Parliament lobby today, Salahuddin said he was at the gathering to tell the crowd to disperse after he learnt that no permit had been issued for the event.

“But just after five minutes, the police barged in and arrested us aggressively,” he claimed.

He said the police should issue permits for such events, but that they could have been influenced against doing so because of “numerous calls by various organisations to abolish the ISA”.

Salahuddin also vowed to organise another mass gathering - similar to that by the Coalition of Clean and Fair Election (Bersih) last October.

He said it would be held next March to protest against and call for the abolition of the ISA.

However, he brushed aside the notion that the gathering will have anything to do with Umno elections which are slated for the same month.

“We only intend to send a clear message to Umno leaders, that the people want the ISA to be abolished... I hope that (Deputy Prime Minister) Najib (Abdul Razak), as the new prime minister, will bring in a new era by abolishing the law,” he added.

Selangor Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim, who also attended the press conference, said Selangor police chief Khalid Abu Bakar has agreed to allow indoor gatherings.

However if held outdoors, gatherings must not exceed 15 minutes, after which the demonstrators will have to go back in(doors), said Khalid.

"It would still be better to make an official request to the police to inform them of such an event," he said.

He also said police should extend the conditions of the permit to all parties, not just those in the opposition coalition Pakatan Rakyat.

Meanwhile, Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim said today that he was disappointed with the police action to disperse last night’s gathering.

“The police are being used to act against us. Umno events are allowed without any hassle. It was raining and the crowd was small,” he said, when met in the Parliament lobby.

Anwar had been scheduled to launch the event, but did not explained why he and other Pakatan leaders had not showed up as planned.

Bar Council slams 'double standards'

Meanwhile, the Bar Council has lamented that while protestors at the anti-ISA gathering were arrested, no action was taken against another protest on the same day - a pro-ISA assembly.

The pro-ISA assembly, organised by a group called Pewaris, ended in a 2km march from their venue at Wisma Sejarah to the Tun Razak police station.

"Both assemblies were a manifestation of the right of citizens to make known their views in a peaceful manner. Both assemblies represent the right to freedom of assembly that is enshrined in the federal constitution," said council's president S Ambiga.

"Both groups of people legitimately exercise these rights. However, only one group was targetted for arrests, namely the anti-ISA group."

The 13,000-strong organisation representing the nation's lawyers said it was alarmed by the arrests and described it as a case of "selective prosecution".

"We called on the police to even-handedly protect and uphold the rights of all concerned citizens to assemble peacefully to express their opinions."