SINGAPORE: Malaysian lawyer Zaid Abd Malek was on Jul 6 served the 24-month condition caution by the Singapore law enforcement for the offence of contempt of courtroom over his statements about the dismissal of lawsuits filed simply by two Malaysian medication traffickers, said the Singapore Police Force (SPF).
The statements were published in a Malay Mail post on Feb 14, 2020.
Mr Zahid, in his capacity as director from the non-governmental organisation Lawyers for Liberty, had commented on the dismissal of lawsuits filed by two found guilty Malaysian drug traffickers, Gobi Avedian and Datchinamurthy Kataiah, within the alleged execution strategies by prison authorities.
“Mr Zaid’s statements had recommended that the Singapore Legal courts had been unfair plus ignored due process by rushing the hearing, and that the Singapore Courts had been ‘bent on disregarding the suits and proceeding to execution’, ” said SPF in the media release on Saturday (Jul 9).
“These statements were released online and accessed by members of the public in Singapore. ”
The police said that the Attorney-General’s Chamber (AGC) issued an order upon Mar 17, 2020, authorising SPF to investigate the alleged contempt of court.
Mr Zaid was overseas when the order was released two years ago and has not been in Singapore until Jul four this year.
SPF’s media release on Saturday came 2 days after Mr Zaid posted on Facebook about how he had already been detained and interrogated by Singapore police when he appeared on Jul 4.
He said he had travelled in order to Singapore to provide legal services to the family of Malaysian death row prisoner Kalwant Singh, who had been scheduled to be carried out at Changi prison on Jul seven on drug trafficking offences.
According to Mr Zaid, he was asked to await by an migration officer after coming to Seletar Airport.
He added which he was made to wait for about four hours without any explanation, and was later taken to a room where he was served an observe ordering him to be at the Police Cantonment Complex on Jul 6 to be researched for contempt of court offence.
Mr Zaid added that at the Police Cantonment Complex around the morning of Jul 6, he has been interrogated for two-and-a-half hours. He was then released and told to return afterwards in the day.
That night, he was told that he had committed the offence of contempt of court and was given two conditional warnings – 1 directed to him and the other at Lawyers for Freedom.
ORDER ISSUED WHEN HE HAS BEEN OVERSEAS
SPF said on Sunday that upon Mister Zaid’s arrival on Jul 4, two officers went to the airport to serve an order needing his attendance for investigations.
Mr Zaid told the authorities that he was available for the particular interview on Jul 6 and has been allowed to leave the airport
Before the interview at the Police Cantonment Complicated started, the police said Mr Zaid had been informed that he could request for breaks at any point.
“Statement recording began at about ten. 17am and finished at about 12. 05pm, and Mr Zaid did not request for any break throughout the interview, ” said SPF. “Mr Zaid remaining the Police Cantonment Complex shortly after the declaration recording ended. inch
After investigations concluded on the same day time, SPF said that in consultation with the AGC, the police served a 24-month conditional warning in order to Mr Zaid plus Lawyers for Freedom on Jul 6, in lieu of prosecution for that offence of contempt of court. This was issued before his scheduled departure upon Jul 7.
The police said Mr Zaid recognized both warnings served to him and Lawyers for Freedom in his capacity as the director of the group.
“Mr Zaid arrived at the Police Cantonment Complex to receive the particular warnings on Jul 6, 2022, at about 8. 48pm plus left the building around 9. 20pm, inch SPF added.
It noted that under the Management of Justice (Protection) Act 2016, “the publication in relation to contempt of court, in the event that published through the Internet or other electronic media, is delivered to be published within Singapore if it has been accessed by the public in Singapore”.