http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wor...-press-Malaysia-on-binge-of-prosecutions.html
Barack Obama urged to press Malaysia on ‘binge of prosecutions’
President Barack Obama
Picture: AP/Susan Walsh, File
By Philip Sherwell, Bangkok
11:31AM GMT 27 Oct 2015
Najib Razak, the Malaysian prime minister, overseen deepening crackdown on free speech and dissent amid corruption scandal, according to scathing new report by Human Rights Watch
Malaysia has launched a “binge of prosecutions” to silence critics and quell public discontent during an escalating corruption scandal and a worsening economic crisis, according to a new report by Human Rights Watch.
The New York-based rights group urged US President Barack Obama to press Najib Razak, the embattled Malaysian prime minister, on the crackdown on free speech in the country when he visits Kuala Lumpur for an international summit next month.
Malaysian Prime Minister and Finance Minister Najib Razak speaks as he unveils the Malaysia's 2016 budget at Parliament House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia* AP/Joshua Paul
“Malaysia has gone on a binge of prosecutions of critics,” said Brad Adams, Asia director of Human Rights Watch. “The government is making a mockery of its claims to democracy and fundamental rights by treating criticism as a crime.”
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The group released the report in Kuala Lumpur ahead of November’s annual summit of the Association of South East Nations, which Malaysia is hosting this year. Mr Obama will be among those attending the high-profile gathering.
The report, “Creating a Culture of Fear: The Criminalisation of Peaceful Expression in Malaysia”, documented how broad and vaguely-worded laws on sedition and peaceful assembly are being used to target academics, journalists and opposition leaders.
The crackdown began after Mr Najib’s ruling party lost the popular vote in the 2013 elections.
Malaysian Prime Minister and Finance Minister Najib Razak, front row right, speaks as he unveils the Malaysia's 2016 budget at Parliament House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia* AP/Joshua Paul
But the campaign to stifle dissent has intensified dramatically in recent months amid a persistent corruption scandal involving 1MDB, the debt-ridden state investment fund that Mr Najib founded.
The prime minister has denied any wrongdoing after it emerged during the 1MDB investigation that nearly $700 million was paid into his personal bank accounts. Aides have said that the money was a donation for his political party from an unidentified Middle Eastern donor.
The controversy has caused unprecedented rifts within the upper echelons of Mr Najib’s party, led by repeated demands for his resignation by Mahathir Mohamed, the former prime minister and his one-time mentor.
The government has responded to the controversy by stepping up prosecutions of critics, suspending two newspapers for three months and blocking an investigative website run from London by Gordon Brown’s sister-in-law.
The Human Rights Watch investigation documents a series of cases in which it accused the government of using broad and vaguely worded laws to pursue its foes.
Azmi Sharom, University of Malaya law professor, is facing trial on charges of sedition for expressing his legal opinion that actions taken by a state government in Perak more than six years ago were illegal.
“I was a law professor expressing a legal opinion,” he noted. The country’s highest court recently rejected his constitutional challenge to the Sedition Act, so the case will now proceed to trial.
Zulkiflee Anwar Ulhaque, one of Asia’s best-known political cartoonists commonly known by his pen name Zunar, faces trial on nine counts of sedition – one for each tweet he sent criticising a court decision to uphold the sodomy conviction of former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim.
His books have been seized and his printers have been threatened with the loss of their publishing licences. The cartoonist could be sentenced to 43 years in jail if he is convicted on all counts.
In another case, Maria Chin Abdullah, a leader of the anti-corruption Bersih movement, could face 20 years in jail for allegedly participating in an illegal “street protest” when she attended a peaceful rally about the Anwar case.
Human Rights Watch called on the Malaysian government to drop all pending charges in such cases, to halt the use of the legal process to harass and detain critics and to amend or repeal the laws that impose criminal penalties for free speech or assembly.
The group said that it wrote to Malaysia’s Minister for Home Affairs, the Attorney General and the Inspector General of Police requesting their views on the issues raised in the report, but received no response.
Barack Obama urged to press Malaysia on ‘binge of prosecutions’
President Barack Obama
Picture: AP/Susan Walsh, File
By Philip Sherwell, Bangkok
11:31AM GMT 27 Oct 2015
Najib Razak, the Malaysian prime minister, overseen deepening crackdown on free speech and dissent amid corruption scandal, according to scathing new report by Human Rights Watch
Malaysia has launched a “binge of prosecutions” to silence critics and quell public discontent during an escalating corruption scandal and a worsening economic crisis, according to a new report by Human Rights Watch.
The New York-based rights group urged US President Barack Obama to press Najib Razak, the embattled Malaysian prime minister, on the crackdown on free speech in the country when he visits Kuala Lumpur for an international summit next month.
Malaysian Prime Minister and Finance Minister Najib Razak speaks as he unveils the Malaysia's 2016 budget at Parliament House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia* AP/Joshua Paul
“Malaysia has gone on a binge of prosecutions of critics,” said Brad Adams, Asia director of Human Rights Watch. “The government is making a mockery of its claims to democracy and fundamental rights by treating criticism as a crime.”
ADVERTISEMENT
The group released the report in Kuala Lumpur ahead of November’s annual summit of the Association of South East Nations, which Malaysia is hosting this year. Mr Obama will be among those attending the high-profile gathering.
The report, “Creating a Culture of Fear: The Criminalisation of Peaceful Expression in Malaysia”, documented how broad and vaguely-worded laws on sedition and peaceful assembly are being used to target academics, journalists and opposition leaders.
The crackdown began after Mr Najib’s ruling party lost the popular vote in the 2013 elections.
Malaysian Prime Minister and Finance Minister Najib Razak, front row right, speaks as he unveils the Malaysia's 2016 budget at Parliament House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia* AP/Joshua Paul
But the campaign to stifle dissent has intensified dramatically in recent months amid a persistent corruption scandal involving 1MDB, the debt-ridden state investment fund that Mr Najib founded.
The prime minister has denied any wrongdoing after it emerged during the 1MDB investigation that nearly $700 million was paid into his personal bank accounts. Aides have said that the money was a donation for his political party from an unidentified Middle Eastern donor.
The controversy has caused unprecedented rifts within the upper echelons of Mr Najib’s party, led by repeated demands for his resignation by Mahathir Mohamed, the former prime minister and his one-time mentor.
The government has responded to the controversy by stepping up prosecutions of critics, suspending two newspapers for three months and blocking an investigative website run from London by Gordon Brown’s sister-in-law.
The Human Rights Watch investigation documents a series of cases in which it accused the government of using broad and vaguely worded laws to pursue its foes.
Azmi Sharom, University of Malaya law professor, is facing trial on charges of sedition for expressing his legal opinion that actions taken by a state government in Perak more than six years ago were illegal.
“I was a law professor expressing a legal opinion,” he noted. The country’s highest court recently rejected his constitutional challenge to the Sedition Act, so the case will now proceed to trial.
Zulkiflee Anwar Ulhaque, one of Asia’s best-known political cartoonists commonly known by his pen name Zunar, faces trial on nine counts of sedition – one for each tweet he sent criticising a court decision to uphold the sodomy conviction of former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim.
His books have been seized and his printers have been threatened with the loss of their publishing licences. The cartoonist could be sentenced to 43 years in jail if he is convicted on all counts.
In another case, Maria Chin Abdullah, a leader of the anti-corruption Bersih movement, could face 20 years in jail for allegedly participating in an illegal “street protest” when she attended a peaceful rally about the Anwar case.
Human Rights Watch called on the Malaysian government to drop all pending charges in such cases, to halt the use of the legal process to harass and detain critics and to amend or repeal the laws that impose criminal penalties for free speech or assembly.
The group said that it wrote to Malaysia’s Minister for Home Affairs, the Attorney General and the Inspector General of Police requesting their views on the issues raised in the report, but received no response.
