The Malaysian Insider lawyer, Syahredzan Johan, took to microblogging site Twitter to confirm that the three editors picked up last night for a sedition probe will be released at 7pm today.KUALA LUMPUR, March 31 — The three editors from The Malaysian Insider (TMI) picked up last night for a sedition probe will be released at 7pm today, the news portal’s lawyer confirmed after a magistrate rejected a police application to remand the trio.
The lawyer, Syahredzan Johan, took to microblogging site Twitter this afternoon to confirm the news.
“Remand application for Lionel Morais, Zulkifli Sulong and Amin Iskandar denied by Magistrate Tuan Nazri Bin Omran,” he wrote, referring to the portal’s managing editor, Bahasa Malaysia editor and features and analysis editor.
“They will be freed by 7pm today,” he added.
Lionel, Amin and Zulkifli were arrested last night under the Sedition Act 1948 and the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 to assist in investigations over a recent article linking the controversial hudud issue to the Conference of Rulers.
The news portal’s chief executive Jahabar Sadiq and Ho Kay Tat, the group chief executive officer (CEO) of The Edge Media Group that owns TMI, were later arrested this morning under the same laws when they went to the Dang Wangi district police headquarters to have their statements recorded.
Last week, TMI ran a report citing an unnamed source as claiming that the Conference of Rulers had rejected proposed legal amendments that would allow hudud to be enforced. This was later denied by the Keeper of the Rulers’ Seal, who also lodged a police report over the article.
BN MPs then called for legal action against the news portal over the report and for reporting “twisted facts” in another article on Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s speech on the Sedition Act during yesterday’s Police Day celebration.
Besides the five, TMI columnist Khoo Ying Hooi, a Universiti Malaya academic, is also being investigated under Section 500 of the Penal Code for criminal defamation over an article titled “Who owns the police?”
- See more at: http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/cops-fail-to-obtain-remand-orders-for-tmi-editors#sthash.HIsAv2JK.dpuf
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