Last year's May Day rally in Kuala Lumpur. The Court of Appeal has said that organisers of assemblies can be punished according to the Peaceful Assembly Act 2012. – The Malaysian Insider filepic, October 1, 2015.
The Court of Appeal today ruled that a provision in the Peaceful Assembly Act 2012 (PAA) that punishes organisers for holding assemblies is constitutional.
A three-man bench chaired by Tan Sri Md Raus Sharif said Section 9(5) of the PAA, which provides for a fine of up to RM10,000, did not run foul of Article 10 of the Federal Constitution.
"Section 9(5) is valid and enforceable," Raus said of the unanimous judgment.
He said as such the bench had to depart from a previous Court of Appeal ruling that Section 9(5) was unconstitutional.
Raus said this in allowing the appeal of the government against the acquittal of Johor PKR executive secretary R. Yuneswaran on a charge of unlawfully organising a “Blackout 505” rally in 2013.
Yuneswaran, 28, was fined RM6,000 by the Sessions Court in Johor Baru on September 26, 2013, which found him, as the organiser of the rally, guilty on the charge of failing to give prior notice of at least 10 days to the southern Johor Baru district police chief, on the event.
He was alleged to have committed the offence at the PKR office in Jalan Beladau 19, Taman Puteri Wangsa, Ulu Tiram in Johor Baru at 8.30pm on May 15, 2013.
On August 24, 2014, however, he was acquitted by the Johor Baru High Court, which ruled that it was bound by a Court of Appeal decision that declared Section 9 (5) of the PAA, unconstitutional.
- TMI
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