Following Attorney General Mohamed Apandi Ali’s decision to withdraw the sedition charges levelled against law professor Dr Azmi Sharom today, an advocacy group focused on eliminating the Sedition Act 1948 has called for the Federal Government to back down from all its sedition cases.
The Movement to Repeal the Sedition Act (Gerakan Hapus Akta Hasutan, or GHAH) said in a statement that it welcomed the AG’s decision, but stressed that the Attorney General had much left to do to restore ‘justice’ to the Malaysian legal system.
“(Apandi) said one of the reasons the sedition charges against Azmi was for the sake of justice. Therefore, it would not be just for other sedition cases initiated by the AGC to continue to be pursued, as they are all in violation of the freedom of expression guaranteed by the Federal Constitution,” the GHAH statement reads, as quoted by mStar.
GHAH also called on Apandi to prove his commitment to affecting substantial legal reforms in the country.
Dr Azmi, a law professor at Universiti Malaya, was slapped with asedition charge two years ago under Section 4(1) of the Sedition Act 1948.
