Blogger harassed by police PDF Print E-mail
Tuesday, 01 March 2005
The Centre for Independent Journalism is concerned about the renewed investigation of independent blogger Jeff Ooi. Police questioned Ooi for two hours on Monday 28 February allegedly in connection with an anonymous post on his ‘Screenshots’ blog on 30 September 2004.
 
Selangor State CID Chief Senior Assistant Commander II Hadi Ho confirmed that police asked for a statement following a police report, and that Ooi was being investigated under Sect 298A of the Penal Code, relating to acts ‘religious disunity’. Those found guilty face between two and five years’ imprisonment. In 1987, the Supreme Court declared this section of the Penal Code null and void, as it was considered unConstitutional.

Ooi said the current investigation was prompted by a police report filed by the police themselves on February 24, allegedly on orders of the national police headquarters.

During the two-hour questioning by Senior Investigating Officer ASP Ratnakumar, Ooi was asked when and why he started blogging. He was also asked about a Malay daily’s frontpage story on 2 October 2004 which accused him of "failing to control the forum by allowing an opinion ridiculing Islam to be published".

He said the police have asked for printouts of his original blog posting and the allegedly seditious response by ‘Anwar’, his cautionary statement to readers about managing free speech, and his warning email to ‘Anwar’ to retract the latter’s remark.

Last year, Ooi was threatened with detention under Internal Security Act, which allows for detention without trial for up to two years, and with prosecution under the Sedition Act. He has been told that these investigations are continuing.

This latest investigation is clear harassment and an attempt to curtail further freedom of expression on the Internet. CIJ calls for all investigations against Jeff Ooi to be halted. In accordance with the stated aim of making Malaysia a ‘major global centre and hub for communications and multimedia information and content services’ , the Government needs to institute fuller legal protection for freedom of expression on the Internet.

 
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