High Court finds Malaysian police and government at fault

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

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Six Malaysians won a court case against police and the Government on Wednesday. Five lawyers and an activist were detained during a walk to mark the World Human Rights Day in December 2007. The High Court declared their detention unlawful.

High Court judge Justice John Louis O’Hara announced the court verdict today, declaring the arrests of R. Sivarasa, N. Surendran, Latheefa Beebi Koya, Eric Paulsen, Amer Hamzah Arshad and Abu Bakar Adnan illegal.

“I had the opportunity to view video recording and observed the photographic evidence which provided a pictorial enactment of what had actually transpired during the walk,” Justice O’Hara said.

According to Justice O’Hara, then Dang Wangi’s Acting OCPD Che Hamzah Che Ismail issued ambiguous instructions to the participants when he directed them to disperse. He said the video clearly shows that Supt Che Hamzah was not decisive of his disperse order.

He then explained that Supt Che Hamzah gave the participants 10 minutes to disperse but these six people were detained before the stated deadline. He also observed that the plaintiffs were denied of their right to legal representation.

Justice O’Hara awarded RM60,000 in damages for all plaintiffs and RM5,454 in special damages for Paulsen for his airfare of traveling from South Africa for this trial. The defendants were also directed to pay 5% in interest for general and special damages from the date of judgment to its full settlement.