Drop charges against activist, urge rights groups

KOTA KINABALU: Indigenous rights groups are calling for charges against former Sabah Bersih 2.0 vice-chairman Jannie Lasimbang to be dropped.

She was charged over the organising of the Bersih 4 assembly here last year.

The call came following the Sept 4 decision by the Court of Appeal to strike out a charge against Bersih 2.0 chairman Maria Chin Abdullah over her alleged failure to give notice to police prior to the rally last year.

“With the decision in Chin’s case, we demand that the charges against Lasimbang be also struck out and we are hopeful of this,” said Indigenous Peoples Network of Malaysia president Yusri Ahon.

The secretary-general of the Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact, Joan Carling, said the Government should engage constructively with human rights defenders instead of putting them through trials.

She said Malaysia had international obligations to protect human rights and hoped the Government would respect the democratic participation of its citizens, including that of the indigenous people.

Lasimbang is due to be tried in a Kota Kinabalu magistrate’s court.