Last week, SUARAM submitted a report to the United Nations on the recent SEDITION act cases. Were glad that the UN Human Rights Office has today issued a statement on the issue. The statement calls for the government to immediately stop investigations and prosecutions under the Act, and to drop charges against all those currently facing prosecution. Lets continue the pressure to compel the government to fulfill its human rights obligations! ------------------ Statement by the UN Human Rights Office: MALAYSIA We are concerned about the recent increase in the use of the 1948 Sedition Act to arrest and prosecute people for their peaceful expression of opinion in Malaysia. Since the beginning of August, at least nineteen people, including religious leaders, civil society actors, political opposition members and activists, a university professor and a journalist have been charged or placed under investigation for sedition. To cite three examples: On 13 September, an investigation was opened against Edmund Bon, a human rights and constitutional lawyer, for comments in an article on the legal use of the word “Allah”, which were critical of current restrictions on members of the other religious groups using the term. On 2 September, Dr. Azmi Sharon, an associate professor of law at the University of Malaya, was charged because of a statement he published on 14 August regarding the appointment process for a new State Government during the 2009 political crisis in Perak, a state of Malaysia. On 4 September, Susan Loone, a journalist working for an independent online newspaper Malaysiakini, was arrested in connection with an article in which she quoted Phee Boon Poh, a Penang State Executive Councilor, as saying that he was treated like a criminal during a police interrogation. The Sedition Act of Malaysia is overly broad and does not outline well-defined criteria for sedition*. We call on the Government to quickly initiate a promised review of the Act and to repeal or amend it in line with its international human rights obligations. We are also concerned that the authorities in Malaysia are arbitrarily applying the Sedition Act to silence critical voices. We urge the Government of Malaysia to immediately stop investigations and prosecutions under the Act, and to drop charges against all those currently facing prosecution.
Posted on: Tue, 16 Sep 2014 18:06:40 +0000
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