THE arrest of Siti Kasim is a clear case of police abusing their powers, said  rights lawyer Eric Paulsen.

Police yesterday night barged into the lawyer and activist’s home and arrested her and her client Anis Izatty Ruslan. The two were brought to the Kajang police headquarters, where they were detained overnight. They were released today. 

Selangor CID chief Assistant Commissioner Fadzil Ahmat had said Siti and Anis were arrested after Anis’ mother filed a police report claiming Siti had abducted her mentally unstable daughter from the hospital.

Paulsen said the police action was “reckless” and proved that they had acted before even conducting an investigation, as Anis had herself asserted that she had not been kidnapped

“The police should have investigated first whether there was any truth that Anis, a 24-year-old adult, was kidnapped (by her lawyer),” Paulsen,  who is executive director at Lawyers for Liberty, told The Malaysian Insight.

“Why couldn’t they have called in Anis or Siti to be questioned instead of breaking into Siti’s home?”

Anis was receiving treatment in a hospital for injuries believed to have been due to attacks by her mother when she left with Siti.

A video of their arrest was shared on Facebook by Suri Kempe, the programme manager at Muslim rights group Musawah. Anis declares in the video that it is a lie that she has been kidnapped.

“We can see from the FB Live video that Anis has denied she was kidnapped so clearly the police are in the wrong here for not investigating first but acting recklessly by arresting both Anis and her lawyer,” said Paulsen.

Kepong MPLim Lip Eng had earlier said Siti was “discharging her professional duties” when the alleged offence was said to have taken place.

“When lawyers are unable to defend their clients for fear of arrest, criminal charges or intimidation, they can no longer properly defend people facing violations of their human rights.

“A lawyer must at all times be allowed to advance a client’s rights without obstruction or impediment or fear of prosecution for carrying out his or her duties as an officer of the court,” Lim said in a statement today.

Siti was escorted in handcuffs to the Kajang magistrate court slightly before noon today, but scored a small victory when the remand application was thrown out by the judge. – June 24, 2018.