KUALA LUMPUR, June 23— Lawyer-cum-activist Siti Kasim was today released on RM3,000 bail by the Criminal Magistrate Court here, on a charge of obstructing a civil servant from performing her duty.
Magistrate Ahmad Solihin Abd Wahab set the bail with one surety and also ordered Siti to show up on her case mention dates in the court.
Siti was represented by lawyers Rajsurian Pillai and Roger Chan, who argued that no bail be set as Siti was not a flight risk.
Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Siti Hajar Mohd Ashif had earlier argued that no bail be imposed as the charge Siti faces is a non-bailable offence.
“Sir, this will lead me to further point that my client Siti Kasim, is a member of the Bar Council of Malaysia, and has statutory duties to perform. The point I make here, is that she is a person of status in the society and the court ought to take that into consideration,” Chan argued.
Rajsurian meanwhile argued that the case his client was involved in was non-violent in nature, and does not involve any form of losses.
“More importantly, Siti Kasim is not a flight risk and she can come to court at any time required by the court,” he added.
The DPP had earlier argued that no bail be imposed as the charge Siti faces is a non-bailable offence.
Siti was charged under Section 186 of the Penal Code for voluntarily obstructing a Federal Islamic Religious Department (Jawi) officer, Sit Nor Jihan Saleh @ Md Ghazali, from discharging her public functions, during a raid at Renaissance Hotel, Kuala Lumpur, on April 3 last year.
If found guilty, Siti can be fined a maximum of RM10,000, maximum jail term of two years, or both.
Siti Kasim had claimed that she was arrested during the April 3 raid by the officers despite identifying herself as a lawyer and as a guest during a dinner at a transwomen beauty pageant.
She was later kept waiting for several hours at the Dang Wangi district police headquarters before being told that she was not under arrest.
Siti Kasim had sought a court order compelling Jawi to name the officers who conducted the raid, for the purposes of her civil suit against the department.
