KUALA LUMPUR – Former law minister Datuk Mohd Zaid Ibrahim appears to be up in arms over having his phone taken by police during investigations into one of his potentially seditious Twitter postings last month.
In a Twitter post today, Zaid alleged that police had acted “cruelly” by “impoverishing” him of his mobile device, claiming that such an act is unnecessary as he had cooperated with police probes.
“They not only take your freedom, but your phone as well. Why was this necessary when the person under investigation has already admitted to writing the tweet?
“Making it an offence to express oneself is bad enough, but to impoverish them by taking their iPhones is cruel,” Zaid said.
The veteran lawyer also called on the Malaysian Bar and “other human rights groups” to look into the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 as Section 223 of the legislation on improper use of network facilities is the law he is being investigated under, besides the Sedition Act 1948.
Yesterday, police recorded Zaid’s statement at the Bukit Aman police headquarters here.
Bukit Aman Criminal Investigations Department chief Datuk Seri Mohd Shuhaily Mohd Zain later confirmed that the tweet being investigated was posted by Zaid on August 30.
“It took some time for police (to summon Zaid) because we had to confirm that the tweet was posted (on) a verified account by the suspect (Zaid) himself.
“(Zaid) provided his full cooperation with police, which made our jobs easier,” Shuhaily said during a press conference at Bukit Aman yesterday. Shuhaily also said that police are required to take action against 3R (race, religion and royalty) issues as misinterpretation by the public on such matters could threaten national security.
While police did not mention which specific tweet caused Zaid to be on their radar, checks on his Twitter page showed that he had tweeted a statement regarding the royalty on August 30. Previously, Zaid had expressed his dissatisfaction with the police following action taken against him, asserting that he is a “harmless old man” with no inclination for mischief nor time to incite or cause harm to anyone. – September 22, 2023