KUCHING, March 3 — Nine human rights groups in Sarawak today urged the federal police to immediately cease and desist from carrying out investigation against lawyer and community activist Fadiah Nadwa Fikri over a peaceful assembly at Dataran Merdeka last Saturday night.
They said Fadiah, like many Malaysians, disagreed with the very disgraceful action of the politicians last weekend which undermined the country’s system of parliamentary democracy.
“Her action was all done very peacefully. She did not advocate violence against anyone but merely expresses her opinion and disagreement with the shameless and undemocratic action of our politicians,” they said in a joint statement.
They pointed out that Articles 10(1)(a) and (b) of the Federal Constitution guarantees freedom of speech and expression and the right to assemble peaceably.
They also said the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948 in Articles 19 and 20 provide that everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression without interference and the right to freedom of peaceful assembly.
“The clarion call by Fadiah for all politicians to have or practise integrity and honour democracy is clearly a right provided or guaranteed by our Federal Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948,” they said.
The nine human rights groups are Sarawak Indigenous Lawyers Alliance (SILA); Borneo Resources Institute, Malaysia (BRIMAS); Jaringan Orang Asal SeMalaysia (JOAS); Community Information & Communication Centre (CICOM); Sarawak Dayak Iban Association (SADIA); Baram Protection Action Committee (BPAC); Save Sarawak Rivers Network (SAVE Rivers); Society for Rights of Indigenous Peoples of Sarawak (SCRIPS) and Jaringan Tanah Hak Adat Bumiputera Sarawak (TAHABAS).
Earlier today, Fadiah had her statement recorded and that the Bukit Aman police have opened a sedition investigation against her over demonstrations against the appointment of Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin as prime minister over the weekend.
The lawyer, who is also under a separate sedition investigation for allegedly insulting the monarchy shortly after the May 2018 elections, said she had been summoned for questioning this afternoon, and that the authorities have seized her Twitter account.
She said following the investigation on her at Bukit Aman this afternoon, the police now have access to her Twitter account and that she was compelled to surrender access under the Communications & Multimedia Act.
