Court dismisses Indians’ plea against Malaysian PM
March 25th, 2011 - 3:22 pm ICT by IANS
Kuala Lumpur, March 25 (IANS) A Malaysian court has dismissed a suit against Prime Minister Najib Razak and five others brought by two ethnic Indian lawyers who say their arrests and detention three years ago were unlawful.
The lawyers, M. Manoharan and P. Uthayakumar, were among the five people who floated an organisation called the Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) that was banned later, the New Straits Times said Friday.
They were arrested in 2007 for staging a protest against the government to voice grievances of the ethnic Indian community about religious freedom, jobs and education.
High Court judicial commissioner Harmindar Singh Dhaliwal, also an ethnic Indian, ruled that the charges against the prime minister were “not triable” and that the issues raised had been dispensed with in other cases before the high court and supreme court.
The two lawyers were detained under the Internal security Act for several months and Najib ordered their release after becoming prime minister in April 2009.
The two were released May 9, 2009, after serving 514 days in detention.
Uthayakumar has now claimed he was not given medication for diabetes while under detention.
The petitioners had also named key persons in the 2007 government - former prime minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, home minister Hishammuddin Hussein, and Musa Hassan, a top police official at the time of their arrest and commandant of the Kamunting Detention Centre where they were held.
Manoharan said he would file an appeal against the court’s decision.
Malaysia is home to 2.1 million ethnic Indians of the total 28 million population.
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Tags: abdullah ahmad badawi, commandant, former prime minister, grievances, hindu rights action force hindraf, home minister, indian lawyers, indians, internal security act, kuala lumpur, manoharan, march 25, musa hassan, najib razak, new straits times, petitioners, plea, police official, prime minister abdullah ahmad badawi, religious freedom