{"id":62827,"date":"2020-02-21T16:52:31","date_gmt":"2020-02-21T08:52:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=62827"},"modified":"2020-02-21T17:16:00","modified_gmt":"2020-02-21T09:16:00","slug":"charges-dropped-against-12-malaysians-for-alleged-links-to-ltte-terrorist-group","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=62827","title":{"rendered":"Charges dropped against 12 Malaysians for alleged links to LTTE terrorist group"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>PETALING JAYA, Feb 21 (NNN) &#8212; Charges against 12 Malaysians on their alleged links to Sri Lanka&#8217;s defunct Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) will be dropped immediately, says Attorney General Tan Sri Tommy Thomas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p> In a 11-page statement today, Thomas said there were no realistic prospect of\u00a0conviction for any of the 12 accused on any of the 34 charges against them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He said the common factor among the 12 was that all had the pictures of the slain leaders of the former terrorist group in their phones or Facebook accounts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-gallery columns-2 is-cropped\"><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"http:\/\/www.namnewsnetwork.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/LTTE-thanagaraj-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"60450\" class=\"wp-image-60450\" srcset=\"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/LTTE-thanagaraj-1024x683.jpg 1024w, http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/LTTE-thanagaraj-300x200.jpg 300w, http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/LTTE-thanagaraj-768x512.jpg 768w, http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/LTTE-thanagaraj-555x370.jpg 555w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure><\/li><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"http:\/\/www.namnewsnetwork.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/LTTE-CHANDRU-1024x682.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"62831\" data-link=\"http:\/\/www.namnewsnetwork.org\/?attachment_id=62831\" class=\"wp-image-62831\" srcset=\"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/LTTE-CHANDRU-1024x682.jpg 1024w, http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/LTTE-CHANDRU-300x200.jpg 300w, http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/LTTE-CHANDRU-768x512.jpg 768w, http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/LTTE-CHANDRU-555x370.jpg 555w, http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/LTTE-CHANDRU.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption>A<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-gallery columns-1 is-cropped\"><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"http:\/\/www.namnewsnetwork.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/saminathan-1024x682.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"57600\" class=\"wp-image-57600\" srcset=\"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/saminathan-1024x682.jpg 1024w, http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/saminathan-300x200.jpg 300w, http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/saminathan-768x512.jpg 768w, http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/saminathan-555x370.jpg 555w, http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/saminathan.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cEach of them had in his mobile phone or Facebook account photos of (Velupillai) Prabhakaran and other leaders of LTTE slain during the Civil War in Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIf such conduct can constitute a criminal offence, it would bring the law into disrepute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAccordingly, in the exercise of my discretion pursuant to Article 145(3) of the Federal Constitution, I have decided to discontinue proceedings against them with immediate effect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cBut even if there were elements of a \u2018terrorist act\u2019 on the part of all or any of the 12 accused of possessing, distributing or displaying such photos of Prabhakaran, it would be impossible for the prosecution to establish that they do not fall within the excluded category of Section 130B(4) of the Penal Code in that they merely constitute \u2018advocacy, protest or dissent\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt is commonplace to have idols to whom hero worship is displayed. It is not just pop stars, sportsmen or actors who are admired: historical personalities and\u00a0politicians are often the subject of adoration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThus, millions of people across the globe admire Lenin, Stalin, Mao Tse Tung or Che Guevara, and the like.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cHaving their photos and other representations in one\u2019s mobile phone or on a Facebook account does not transform one to being a terrorist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cJust because each of these leaders used terror or violence to achieve their political goals does not mean that an ardent supporter online should be regarded as a terrorist or is planning a\u00a0terrorist act.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There must be sufficient evidence for prosecution to establish the case, he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>PETALING JAYA, Feb 21 (NNN) &#8212; Charges against 12 Malaysians on their alleged links to Sri Lanka&#8217;s defunct Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) will be dropped immediately, says Attorney General Tan Sri Tommy Thomas. In a 11-page statement today, Thomas said there were no realistic prospect of\u00a0conviction for any of the 12 accused on [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":57600,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[288,318],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62827"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=62827"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62827\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/57600"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=62827"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=62827"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=62827"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}