KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 19 — A court in Johor Baru today denied the police a remand order to further detain former journalist Sidek Kamiso for allegedly insulting the death of PAS spiritual leader Datuk Dr Haron Din.
When contacted, his lawyer Roger Chan said the police had applied for the remand order under Section 117 of the Criminal Procedure Code at a Magistrate Court there, which allows for the detention of a suspect for more than 24 hours for an investigation.
“My argument was that the police had not conducted any investigation since the arrest was in the wee hours and that it was wrong to detain someone that long just because a police report was lodged,” Chan told Malay Mail Online when contacted.
According to Chan, the former journalist was taken to the court at about 4pm today, almost 12 hours after he was arrested from his home at Bandar Utama, Petaling Jaya.
Earlier, Malay Mail Online quoted lawyer Siti Kasim confirming that Sidek has just been freed.
“Lawyer Roger Chan, who represented [him] in Johor Baru, told me that the court rejected the application for a remand order by the police,” Siti said.
Siti is representing the ex-journalist’s family, and was to accompany them to Johor Baru after the man was nabbed by police officers from his home in the wee hours of this morning.
Sidek’s wife, Norlin Wan Musa had told Malay Mail Online that several plainclothes policemen had entered their home forcefully to arrest her husband without giving her a reason.
The mother of two claimed that she only found out that her husband was taken to Johor Baru from a policeman at the Selangor police headquarters.
The 50-year-old man was taken in for tweeting about the demise of PAS spiritual leader Datuk Dr Haron Din, who passed away after seeking treatment for heart ailments on Friday.
The tweet has caused an uproar after Jelutong MP Jeff Ooi retweeted it from his account.
Ooi is now being investigated under Section 298 of the Penal Code, for allegedly intending to hurt the religious feelings of any person.
