Judge throws out SOSMA charges, frees detainees

A fighter from the Syrian rebel group Jabhat al-Nusra is seen in Raqqa province, May 12, 2013. Justice Kamardin ruled that the SOSMA was only applicable for acts of threats in Malaysia. — Reuters picKUALA LUMPUR, May 20— Former Internal Security Act (ISA) detainee Yazid Sufaat, who was charged with promoting terrorist activities in Syria, and two others, who were charged with abetting him, were today acquitted and discharged by the High Court here.
Judge Kamardin Hashim ordered Yazid and his friends, Halimah Hussein and Muhammad Hilmi Hasim, to be freed after allowing their applications to strike out the charges made against them.
When handing down the judgment, he said, the court was satisfied that there was merit in the submission by the defence pertaining to the charges and the application of the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act (SOSMA) 2012, which was enacted under Article 149 of the Federal Constitution.

In his judgment, Kamardin said Article 149 of the Federal Constitution was only applicable for acts of threats in Malaysia.
“Since the charges against them involved offences committed in Syria, Article 49 and SOSMA, which is enacted under Article 149, cannot be used to prove the charges against them,” he added.
He said it would be an abuse of the court process if the prosecution was allowed to go on.
Following which, deputy public prosecutor Abdul Wahab Mohamad then applied for the three to be detained pending an appeal of the court’s decision at the Court of Appeal. However, the application was rejected.
Yazid, 49, a cafeteria operator at the Jalan Duta Court Complex, was charged with promoting an ideology intended to incite the people of Syria to commit terrorist acts while his friend Halimah Hussein and cafeteria worker Muhammad Hilmi Hasim were charged with abetting him.
They were charged with committing the offences at a house in Taman Bukit Ampang between Aug 1 and October 20, last year.
Yazid was charged under Section 130G(a) of the Penal Code (Act 574) while Halimah and Muhammad Hilmi were charged under Section 109, both of which carry sentences of up to 30 years in prison and fine, upon conviction. — Bernama