Six PSM activists re-arrested under EO
Athi Shankar and Stephanie Sta Maria
| July 2, 2011
The detained PSM leaders will be taken to Bukit Aman to face charges under the Emergency Ordinance.
UPDATED
KEPALA BATAS: Six of the 30 Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) activists whose seven-day remand order ended today have been re-arrested at the Seberang Prai Utara district police headquarters, Butterworth, under the Emergency Ordinance (EO) 1969.
The six are Sungai Siput MP Dr Michael Jeyakumar, deputy chairman M Saraswathy, central committee members Choo Chon Kai and M Sugumaran, Sungai Siput branch secretary A Letchumanan and national Youth chief R Sarathbabu.
They are aged between 56 and 26.
Jeyakumar is the first Member of Parliament to be detained under the EO.
Of the remaining 24, police have released two under-age teenagers – Raveen Veerasenan, who is Dr Jeyakumar’s son, and S Thivaya Kumar, who is Sugumaran’s son.
Police have also released another woman from Pusing, Perak, Chong Mooi, 55, leaving 21 more detainees, comprising 12 women and nine men, under remand until July 4.
Their original seven-day remand order from last Saturday expired today.
Their remand was extended to another three days by the Butterworth Sessions Court this evening. They were originally held to be questioned for waging war against the King.
According to PSM national treasurer, A Sivarajan, the six were seen exiting the Seberang Prai Utara district headquarters when they were handcuffed and led back inside.
“It has been confirmed that they are being held under the EO which means detention without trial for 60 days,” Sivarajan told FMT. “But we are still in the dark about what exactly the six are being charged with.”
“The lawyers have been told that the order came from Bukit Aman and that they will only be told of the charge once the six are brought there. I don’t know when they will be leaving for Kuala Lumpur. We are still waiting but there is a high likelihood it will be by tonight.”
The 30 were detained at the Sungai Dua toll plaza in the North-South Expressway while travelling in a chartered tour bus from Kedah to Penang last Saturday.
They were remanded for seven days to assist police investigation under Section 122 of the Penal Code for allegedly waging war against the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.
‘Unlawful and an ‘insult’
Meanwhile, PSM chairman Nasir Hashim called the re-arrests a “shame” and an “insult to the courts”, saying that the court had already passed a verdict to release the six yet the police overrode it.
“I have no doubt that the six will be held beyond July 9,” he said. “The hype over communism has already been created and they have to keep this issue alive to incite more public hatred of Bersih.”
“This is clearly a political decision. It has nothing to do with anything that the six have done. The authorities are trying to enforce the illegality of the rally and are using our comrades to do so.”
Nasir added that he fully expected to be picked up for questioning within the next week based on his previous experience during the Ops Lalang in 1987.
He was the former chairman of Insan and was detained for 15 months under the Internal Security Act (ISA).
“The police went after my comrades and then they came after me,” he recalled. “So it’s only a matter of time now.”
Suaram, meanwhile, has condemned the use of the EO on the six as “unlawful” and a “violation of human rights”.
It has also demanded the immediate release of the six and frequent access to legal assistance and family.
Meanwhile, PSM secretary-general S Arutchelvan told FMT that a group of lawyers headed by Aziz Sulaiman were prevented from entering the police station to see the six.
However, the police allowed the families of the six detainees to visit them for 15 minutes.
Arutchelvan expects them to be detained under the ISA soon.
