KUALA LUMPUR, July 5 — Lawyers of Liberty criticised today the High Court’s temporary media gag on the “merits” of Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s criminal and corruption case, claiming the order to be against Article 10 of the Federal Constitution which guarantees the right to freedom of speech and expression.
The legal group’s adviser N. Surendran further asserted that the judge Datuk Mohd Sofian Abd Razak does not have the power to issue such an order that encompasses all media, including social media.
“Judges do not have such powers. And to issue an ‘interim’ gag order of this nature, without having heard the full merits of the application for a gag order, makes the order all the more untenable,” Surendran said in a statement.
He explained that the judge’s jurisdiction is restricted, saying the latter “can issue any order that binds the parties in the case or in some cases all those present in court” but not to bind “the world at large”.
He pointed out that even if local news organisations were to abide by the order, foreign news services and users of social media platforms might not.
“No interim order should be issued in a case like this,” the lawyer added.
Surendran also said that because the terms of the order were too vague as the “merits of the case” were not clearly defined, it would be near impossible to enforce the court order.
“This case against Najib is of the greatest public interest, and public discussion of the case must not be prohibited and silenced.
“It will also lead to absurd results, as the order will not bind the media abroad who will continue to discuss and debate the case. Najib’s case is of global interest,” he said.
The media gag order was allowed at the request of Najib’s counsel yesterday.
Attorney General Tommy Thomas objected to the request, citing freedom of expression and speech.
