KUALA LUMPUR Former Muda secretary-general Amir Hariri Abd Hadi was acquitted of a charge of failing to notify the authorities about the recent #ManaKapalLCS protest held here.
Magistrate Farah Nabihah Muhamad Dan made the ruling after the prosecution decided to retract the charge on Tuesday.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Anis Wahidah Mohamad’s application to withdraw the case against Amir Hariri came after the Federal Court decision that Section 9(5) of the Peaceful Assembly Act 2012 (PAA) is unconstitutional.
“After reviewing arguments from both sides and the Federal Court’s ruling, and since the prosecution has no instructions to file new charges, I order the accused to be discharged and acquitted, with the bail money fully refunded,” said Farah Nabihah.
On July 1, the Federal Court ruled that the provision in Section 9(5) of the PAA, which prescribes penalties for organisers who fail to give the police five days’ advance notice before holding an assembly, is unconstitutional.
Former chief justice Tun Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat, who chaired the five-judge panel, said Section 9(5) of the PAA is unconstitutional because it is inconsistent with Article 10(2)(b) read together with Article 8(1) of the Federal Constitution. The court subsequently ordered Amir Hariri’s case to be remitted to the High Court to be resolved fairly and expeditiously.
Amir Hariri, who is the executive director of the youth activist group, Mandiri, had earlier pleaded not guilty when he was charged under Article 9(1) of the Peaceful Assembly Act 2012, three years ago. The offence carries a maximum RM10,000 fine upon conviction.
Article 9(1) of the Peaceful Assembly Act 2012 states that organisers must notify the authorities in advance before holding a public assembly.
Amir was alleged to have been involved in organising a protest in front of the Sogo departmental store in Dang Wangi, about 2pm on Aug 14.
However, he, as the organiser, was alleged to have failed to notify police about the protest five days before the event took place.
The protest was held following the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee report which disclosed that the Royal Malaysian Navy’s first state-of-the-art littoral combat ship (LCS) was not yet completed when it was launched in 2017 and that it was less than 44 per cent completed at the time of the launch.
Amir Hariri was represented by lawyer Rajsurian Pillai.
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