By Boo Su-Lyn
A lawyer lambasted the authorities today for detaining three youths under the Emergency Ordinance 1969 instead of charging them in court for alleged theft.
“The Emergency Ordinance is used as a shortcut to purportedly try to reduce crime,” said the youths’ lawyer Edmund Bon at a press conference today.
“(There are) more than sufficient laws under the Penal Code to charge these boys,” added Bon, who is also a campaigner in the Malaysian Centre for Constitutionalism & Human Rights.
Muhammad Arif Abu Samah, 19, Mohamed Ramadan Mohamed Ali, 22, and Mohamed Rafe Mohamed Ali, 20, were arrested on March 8 for allegedly stealing motorbikes, and subsequently banished to Johor, Pahang and Kedah on May 17 for two years under a restriction order under the EO.
Bon said the youths’ lawyers will likely mount a legal challenge against the government’s decision to maintain the 1969 Emergency Proclamation.
This article was originally posted by the now-defunct news portal The Malaysian Insider on 31 May 2011.
Source: https://loyarburok.com/2011/06/15/tmi-charge-suspected-thieves-instead-of-using-eo-says-lawyer/. Archived at https://perma.cc/4NRZ-CT8J
