Federal Court upholds RM350,000 award to Seputeh MP over 2008 arrest

KUALA LUMPUR: The Federal Court has upheld the Court of Appeal's decision in awarding RM350,000 compensation to Seputeh MP Teresa Kok (pic) over her wrongful arrest nine years ago.

In dismissing the leave to appeal by the Government, Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Justice Richard Malanjun, who chaired the three man panel, ruled that there was no merit in the application.

"The law is settled. We dismiss the application," he said in a unanimous decision on Tuesday. Other judges on the panel were Justices Hassan Lah and Balia Yusof Wahi.

When contacted, Kok's lawyer S.N. Nair said that the panel dismissed the application with RM10,000 cost.

On July 26, last year, the Court of Appeal ruled that Kok was wrongfully arrested under the Internal Security Act (ISA) in 2008.

Panel chairman Justice Abang Iskandar Abang Hashim allowed her suit against former home minister Tan Sri Syed Hamid Albar and granted RM350,000 in damages over the wrongful arrest and detention.

Kok was arrested at the entrance to her home in Petaling Jaya at 11.15pm on Sept 12, 2008, and detained for seven days.

The arrest was on grounds that she had taken part in activities that could cause tension and racial clashes, following news articles that Kok had allegedly called for the Azan be played at a lower volume by the Bandar Kinrara 5 mosque in Puchong.

The court said the incident was reported to have happened in February 2008, and so there was no cause for it to be a threat seven months later.

On March 13, 2009, Kok filed the suit against Syed Hamid, former Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan, DSP E Kim Tien and the Government.

She had sought damages for wrongful arrest and detention, pain and suffering and mental stress, general and special damages and other relief deemed fit by the court.