KUALA LUMPUR: The police should not issue any threat to prevent the public from participating in the procession to Parliamen organised by the Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (Bersih) tomorrow.
Lawyers For Liberty (LFL) director Zaid Malek said the police's statement that the assembly violated the law clearly showed serious ignorance of the provisions of the Peaceful Assembly Act 2013 (PAA) and the Federal Constitution.
Zaid said based on a 2014 case, the Court of Appeal had dismissed Section 9(5) of the act for violating the constitution in the case of Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad v Public Prosecutor.
"Firstly, the Court of Appeal has already struck down Section 9(5) of the PAA for being unconstitutional in the case of Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad v Public Prosecutor in 2014.
"The decision of the appellate court in this case still stands and has not been overturned by a higher court. In 2015, another Court of Appeal bench in Public Prosecutor v Yuneswaran gave an opinion that Section 9(5) is constitutional and disagreed with the Nik Nazmi decision.
"However, the 2015 court could not overrule the earlier decision as both courts are of the same level. Only the Federal Court, which is a higher court, could overrule the Nik Nazmi decision. This has never happened, and the decision remains valid and enforceable until now," he said in a statement today.
He said this in response to city police chief Datuk Allaudeen Abdul Majid's statement last night that the police had not received any notification on the organisation of the "100 per cent Reform Demand" assembly scheduled to take place at Parliament tomorrow.
Allaudeen said an assembly without notification was an offence under Section 9(5) of the Peaceful Assembly Act 2012, and he advised the public not to participate in any assembly that violated the law.
Zaid said the failure to provide notice did not itself constitute a violation of the law.
"The concept of an unlawful assembly only exists under the repealed provisions regarding public assemblies in the Police Act 1967.
"Violation of any provision of PAA does not make any assembly illegal.
"Therefore, there is no basis for the city police to warn the public against attending the assembly.
Zaid said the police's action also reflected the current government's stance, some of whom were former Pakatan Harapan leaders who had participated in many successful Bersih assemblies.
"When the government was under Barisan Nasional (BN), it declared Bersih assemblies illegal. Now, with PH in power, its leaders are doing the same thing. It's as if it's a betrayal."
He also urged the government to stop all enforcement of Section 9(5) of the Peaceful Assembly Act, in line with the Court of Appeal's decision in the Nik Nazmi case.