Teresa lodges police report through lawyers

Report from Malaysiakini

Internal Security Act detainee Teresa Kok has lodged a police report through her lawyer against those she claims to be responsible for her arrest last Friday.

MCPX

Her lawyer Sankara Nair (left) said she named Malay-language daily Utusan Malaysia, its senior editor Zaini Hassan and former Selangor menteri besar Dr Mohd Khir Toyo in the report lodged at the Jalan Travers police station this evening.

“Kok is very upset about her arrest and she instructed me to lodge a police report against the three,” Nair told a press conference after he met her at federal police headquarters Bukit Aman in Kuala Lumpur.

She singled out the Umno-owned Utusan for triggering religious controversy among Muslims through an article last Wednesday entitled, ‘Azan, jawi, JAIS, UiTM dan ba-alif-ba-ya’.

“The article, alluded to me, contained in it baseless allegations and I strongly deny these allegations,” Kok said in her police report.

The column, written by senior editor Zaini Hassan, lambasted an unnamed woman politician for going to a mosque and demanding that it lowers the volume of loudspeakers during the Muslim call to prayer.

The person was described as a ‘bespectacled politician’, a racist and a chauvinist. However, the mosque has denied any involvement by Kok.

Apart from the police report, Kok has issued a letter of demand seeking an apology from Utusan. It was faxed two days ago, giving 24 hours for a response, but the newspaper’s lawyers have asked for a few more days.

Kok also made reference in her report to another police report lodged earlier by Kota Raja PAS parliamentarian Dr Siti Mariah Mahmud against Mohd Khir.

Siti Mariah claimed that Mohd Khir had maliciously slandered Kok by claiming that she was the main instigator of the azan controversy.

‘No time or privacy to talk’

Nair further said Kok, the DAP parliamentarian for Seputeh, is being held in solitary confinement and is being provided with food of poor quality, but that she is in good shape.

“She told me that the police have refused giving her newspapers and she doesn’t know what is going on. She’s been given books and she’s been surviving with that,” said the lawyer.

He said he was only allowed to speak to her for an hour and that it was unfair of the police to have restricted the time.

“We had many things to discuss about like the habeas corpus case we have filed. Giving us only one hour is unjust and unfair,” he said.

He said police personnel were present all the time and this gave them no space to discuss legal matters confidentially.

“My client and I should be given proper space to talk confidentially and this was not allowed. We will file a complaint about this soon,” he added.

Kok’s legal team had filed a writ for habeas corpus two days ago at the Kuala Lumpur High Court to overturn her detention.

The writ is a bid to produce a prisoner before a judge to ascertain if there are any procedural defects which could render detention unlawful.

The hearing has been scheduled for Sept 24, said Sankara, but an application will be made to bring this forward by two days because the legal team is involved in other cases.

Nair said he is on the team together with Karpal Singh, his son Gobind Singh Deo and Param Cumaraswamy, the former United Nations special rapporteur on the judiciary.

Hopefully Utusan, its editor and Khir Toyo will be justly punished by the law for spreading such malicious attacks against her.