Thursday 15 October 2015

Letter from UIA, to the Prime Minister


Letter from the Union Internationale des Advocats (UIA) to the Prime Minister of Malaysia regarding the arrest of Matthias Chang

Paris, October 14, 2015

Y.A.B. Dato’ Sri Hj. Mohd Najib Bin Tun Haji Abdul Razak
Prime Minister of Malaysia
Office of the Prime Minister
Main Block, Perdana Putra Building
Federal Government Administrative Centre
62502 Putrajaya ‐ Malaysia

Transmitted by email and fax: ppm@pmo.gov.my


Your Excellency, 

The UIA has been informed of the arrest, under the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 (“SOSMA”), of lawyer Matthias Chang, when he was at the police headquarters to visit one of his clients, Mr.Dato’ Paduka Khairuddin.

We were also informed that Matthias Chang and his client were brought to Magistrate Court of Kuala Lumpur, and both of them were then charged under Section 124L of the Penal Code for attempting to sabotage banking and financial services in the country.

We were alerted by the Malaysian Bar Association and its President, Mr. Steven Thiru, who reiterated the Bar's opposition to Chang's detention. According to Mr. Steven Thiru, Mr. Chang was cooperating with the investigations, although there is no basis to invoke SOSMA.  

We are extremely concerned by this situation, which seems to be the consequence of a misapplication of SOSMA. There is apparently no basis for invoking this anti‐terrorism law against a person willing to cooperate with the investigation.

Furthermore, we question the SOSMA provisions that have been widely criticized for violating the protection of fundamental human rightsin the name of nationalsecurity, notably because of the overly broad and often vague language in SOSMA and associated bills. The definition of “security offence,” for example, includes committing acts “prejudicial to national security and public safety,” thus rending the definition of who may be arrested under SOSMA too broad and inevitably leading to abusive arrest and detention.

The Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers, adopted by the Eighth United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders in 1990, explicitly establish the right of lawyers to be protected when performing their professional functions, including the right not to be harassed or prosecuted for their clients’ causes. [1]

The UIA considers that these UN Basic Principles have a normative value under customary international law and should be respected by Malaysia, which was present at the Congress and voted in favor of their adoption.

We thus respectfully call upon the Malaysian State to abide by its obligations in this regard. 

We also insist, along with the Malaysian Bar, that the State respect its obligation to respect the principle of legal professional privilege. This principle should remain inviolate and absolute.

We therefore support the Malaysian Bar in its demand  

‐  that the police recognize and respect the role and responsibilities of Matthias Chang as a lawyer,  

‐  that Matthias Chang be released immediately,  

‐ that the authorities should refrain from any action that is likely to harass, impede or obstruct him from performing his duties on behalf of his clients.  

We thank you for your attention to this important matter.

Respectfully yours, 

Miguel LOINAZ   

Président
President
Presidente

C.c.:

‐ Attorney General of Malaysia, Tan Sri Dato’ Sri Haji Mohamed Apandi bin Haji Ali

‐ Tan Sri Hasmy Agam, Chairperson, Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (SUHAKAM)

‐ The Malaysian Bar

12 comments:

berasiam said...

PM akan arahkan peguamnya tulis surat dan beri tempoh hingga hari Selasa kepada UIA supaya tarik balik surat ini atau menghadapi kemungkinan saman.

Anonymous said...

To those for whom Cash is King:

"Prejudices are what fools use for reason ...
Those who can make you believe absurdities can also make you commit atrocities."

-Voltaire

Unknown said...

and....... nothing will happen.

Anonymous said...

PM najib akan saman UIA...kah...kah...kah...kah... Biul punya PM..!!

Anonymous said...

bontot lah kalau pm berani saman

Anonymous said...

Malu je UIA. Berok dua ekor bukan ditahan bawah Sosma.

Anonymous said...

You had us fooled you ass!

Bon débarras aux ordures!

Anonymous said...

Miguel Loinaz akan di pindahkan ke JPM pada Selasa depan ......

Anonymous said...

Sdr Apanama,
will Zeti resign next week? Rumours flying, and this could be the work of those who don't wish her well. If you know her, say to her that the rakyat is 200% behind her to stay! She has not yet finished her work, there's still a lot to be done to raise our country up from the depths of hell it has sunk. The rakyat is fully committed in our support for her.

Anonymous said...

Asalnya Khairuddin ditahan reman. Lepas reman tahan semula guna Sosma, 28 hari tanpa bicara. Matthias memang ditahan guna Sosma sejak mula. Bila dituduh bawah akta lain. Tahan memang guna Sosma. Tuduhan bukan Sosma. Beruk dengan berok tak sama, kera dan lotong pun berbeza. Kera duku pun lain. Sotong lagilah lain.

Unknown said...

Kandungan surat peguam nya munkin begini rupa. ' untuk pihak anak guaman kami, kami ingin pihak UIA mengesah kan bahawa kamu betul betul bersetuju kepada kenyataan Malaysian Bar dan jikalau ya kamu MUNKIN akan di saman pada hari SELASA yg masih BELUM ditentukan SELASA BILA oleh anak guaman kami tetapi tetap disaman walaupun di hari KHIAMAT NANTI dan juga kami akan menuntut RM2.6 billion gantirugi. Dengan ini kami memberi notis sehingga hari SELASA yang terbuka supaya pihak UIA mempunyai masa yang cukup seoerti juga saya meminta masa 6 bilan untuk menyelesaikan masalah 1MDB. Kami juga ingin memaklumkan bahawa kami juga menerima cadangan settle out of court ASALKAN SETTLE atau DONATION pun boleh kerana CASH IS KING. Kalau tidak percaya boleh tanya Mantan PM TDM kerana anak guaman kami pernah beritahu beliau. Jadi fikir lah dengan pandai dan buatlah keputusan yang betul sebelum isteri anak guaman saya naik darah. Masa itu anak guaman kami tidak dapat berbuat apa apa lagi kerana keputusan isteri adalah muktamad. Kami juga ingin memaklumkan kepada pihak UIA sekiranya ada out of court settlement maka bayaran mestilah di masukan ke dalam akaun peribadi anak guaman kami dengan undertaking daripada anak guaman kami yang beliau tidak akan gunakan duit itu untuk kepentingan peribadi. Sekian.

Anonymous said...

What did this Miguel fella say ?
Absolute respect the international law ?
Absolute respect the bar council ?

My Big Ass !!!

Malaysia is a sovereign country with it's own law enacted through our own system .
Nobody have the right to do otherwise .
Adherance to Rukun Negara is absolute.

PN