FAMILIES of those detained on terrorism charges linked to the defunct Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) will be handing a memorandum to Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad. 

Group adviser K. Saraswathy said the memorandum, calling for the release of the 12 detainees, will be handed in after Thaipusam. 

“We want the PM (Dr Mahathir) to reconsider the government’s move to not release the detainees based on the evidence we will be presenting.

“We want to tell the PM that the arrests of the 12 is unconstitutional,” she said in a press conference today. 

“The charges against them are very flimsy. We will get all the details and pass it on.” 

The 12 have been detained under the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 (Sosma) for alleged links with the LTTE. 

Saraswathy said that Malaysia has never labelled the LTTE as a terrorist organisation, adding that the arrests of the 12 are politically motivated. 

“They only can be detained if they abuse the Anti-Money Laundering Anti-terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act. 

“The label given to LTTE as terrorists has to be dropped. We want the government to drop the charges and release them.

“Police have acted ultra vires against them and this is against the constitution.” 

Earlier, a businessman and philanthropist from Klang lodged a report at the Sentul district police headquarters claiming that the 12 men were detained unlawfully. 

P. Thiagarajan, 65, who is a friend of those detained, said the high court had confused the people by rejecting DAP’s Gadek assemblyman G. Saminathan’s bail application. 

He claimed that the Malaysian government had in 2010 given RM3.2 million to Tamil Forum Malaysia, which collected funds for the Tamil victims of the civil war in Sri Lanka. 

“We want the police to investigate who the funds were given to,” he added. – February 6, 2020.