KUALA LUMPUR, March 9 — PKR lawmaker Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad has been remanded three days until Wednesday to assist investigations on the #KitaLawan rally in support of jailed party leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim held on Saturday.
Lawyer Eric Paulsen, who confirmed the remand order on Twitter this afternoon, said, however that Nik Nazmi remains in good spirits despite his detention.
He added that a revision of the order will be filed by the lawmaker’s lawyers.
“Mag Mohd Azali granted 3 days remand against Nik Nazmi until Wed re #KitaLawan rally. Nik is in good spirit; he urges to continue struggle.
“We will file revision against the Mag’s decision granting 3 days remand till Wed re Nik Nazmi #KitaLawan rally,” Paulsen wrote on the microblogging site.
Nik Nazmi was picked up yesterday for questioning over the Saturday rally, which had earlier been declared illegal as the organisers had failed to give the authorities 10-days’ notice prior to the event.
According to Nik Nazmi’s lawyer Melissa Sasidaran yesterday, the Seri Setia assemblyman is being investigated under Section 9(5) of the Peaceful Assembly Act 2012 and Section 143 of the Penal Code.
“According to the police, he is a repeat offender as an organiser,” the lawyer told Malay Mail Online.
Section 143 of the Penal Code prescribes the punishment for those found guilty of being a member of an unlawful assembly with a jail term of up to six months, or a fine, or both.
Thousands of Anwar supporters flooded the streets in the nation’s capital city on Saturday o protest the government’s alleged mistreatment of the opposition leader who was jailed last month for sodomising a former male aide, Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan, in 2008.
The demonstration kicked off at 3pm from three assembly points within the city — Central Market, Masjid Jamek and the PAS headquarters on Jalan Raja Laut — before demonstrators converged at Sogo and then continued their march to the Petronas Twin Towers.
The police had previously issued a warning that the rally, headlined as #KitaLawan, was unlawful, as its organisers had failed to follow the conditions laid out in the Peaceful Assembly Act.
The #KitaLawan hashtag movement is a group formed in solidarity with Anwar with a number of its members comprising student leaders.
Despite the warning, the police did not attempt to stop the demonstrators.
