Aziz Bari opts to remain silent in sedition probe
Law lecturer Dr Abdul Aziz Bari has opted not to answer any questions from the police in their sedition investigation against him for allegedly insulting the Sultan of Selangor.
His lawyer, Afiq M. Noor, said the constitutional law expert was questioned for 1½ hours by police at the Sabak Bernam district police headquarters in Selangor this morning.
Aziz arrived at the police HQ at 11am, accompanied by Afiq and another lawyer, Dr Dheeraj Bar.
"He did not answer any of the police's queries, invoking Section 112," he said, referring to the provision in the Criminal Procedure Code which allows a person to remain silent when a person feels the questions would expose him to criminal charges.
"He chose not to answer any questions as to not incriminate himself," Afiq told The Malaysian Insider.
He said police were investigating Aziz under Section 4(1)(a) of the Sedition Act 1948.
The investigations are centred on two statements the academic had made in two
articles published in The Malaysian Insider, which saw more than 100 police reports lodged against him.
The articles are "Sultan Selangor terikat Deklarasi 1992, perlu lantik Wan Azizah, kata Aziz Bari", published on September 1, and "Only God, not Sultan, has absolute powers, says legal expert" published on September 9.
Two reporters from The Malaysian Insider had on Monday given their statements to the police over the articles.
In the report "Sultan Selangor terikat Deklarasi 1992, perlu lantik Wan Azizah, kata Aziz Bari", Aziz had said that the sultan was bound by the Declaration of Constitutional Principles 1992, which sets guidelines for rulers, including clarifying the role of royalty in politics.
The second article was based on a speech Aziz had given during a forum organised by Persatuan Ummah Sejahtera Malaysia (PasMa) on September 8.
He had said, according to the constitution, the sultan's discretionary powers in appointing a menteri besar were limited to cases of a hung parliament.
Aziz said this did not apply in Selangor's case as Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Ismail had the majority support of the Selangor assembly.
If Aziz is charged with sedition, he will be the second academic to be so charged, following Professor Azmi Sharom from Universiti Malaya.
Azmi, a law professor, was charged with sedition on September 2 over his statements published in an online news portal on the 2009 Perak constitutional crisis.
Aziz joins a string of opposition politicians, social activists, news portal Malaysiakini and one of its journalists, as well as a Muslim scholar, who have either been charged with sedition, facing trial or are under investigation.
Earlier this month, activists Safwan Anang and Adam Adli Abd Halim were sentenced to 10 months and 12 months in prison respectively, for remarks made at a May 13 forum last year calling on the people to take to the streets over the general election results.
Activist Ali Abd Jalil faces three sedition charges for allegedly insulting the Johor royalty and the Selangor Sultan in Facebook postings.
Ali, declared a Prisoner of Conscience by Amnesty International, was released on bail yesterday after being detained for more than 20 days.
Last Friday, opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim had his statement recorded by police over a report lodged against him in 2011, where he allegedly uttered seditious remarks over his second sodomy case.
On September 20, police recorded a statement from lawyer Edmund Bon, who is being investigated for sedition for saying that non-Muslims were not subject to fatwas or the Shariah courts.
Former Selangor PAS ulama committee member, Wan Ji Wan Hussin, was charged on September 10 with sedition for posting on Facebook remarks that belittled the Selangor Sultan’s role as head of Islamic matters in the state.
On September 4, journalist Susan Loone was arrested in Penang over her article on an interview with state executive council member Phee Boon Poh and the mass arrests of the state’s Voluntary Patrol Unit (PPS) on Merdeka Day.
Other opposition politicians who have been charged with sedition include Pandan MP Rafizi Ramli, Serai MP N. Surendran, Seputeh MP Teresa Kok, Batu MP Tian Chua, Shah Alam MP Khalid Samad and Seri Delima assemblyman R.S.N. Rayer. – October 1, 2014.
