PKR’s communications director Fahmi Fadzil called it “an attempt to intimidate members of the media” and a “serious attack on freedom of the press and freedom of expression.”
He said other recent government actions such as blocking Internet access to Sarawak Report and The Malaysian Insider, and the deportation of an Aljazeera reporter were signs of an “increased intolerance of a free press.”
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation said the two were reporter Linton Besser and cameraman Louis Eroglu from its flagship Four Corners current affairs programme. They had wanted to ask the prime minister “about a corruption scandal”, referring to a RM2.6 billion deposit in Najib’s bank accounts in 2013.
Sarawak police said the two men were released this morning after being held for six hours for questioning and having their statements recorded. Their passports have been impounded and they have been told not to leave the country.
CID chief Dev Kumar said in a statement that the two of them were arrested for failing to comply with police instructions not to cross the security line while Najib was at Darul Ehsan mosque in Sentosa, Kuching. A report had been lodged against them for “aggressively approaching” the prime minister.
Investigations were being carried out under the Penal Code for obstructing a public official while discharging his duties, police said.
Fahmi said they should not have been arrested in the first place, “especially not for trying to ask the Prime Minister difficult questions.”
He said any attempt to charge members of the media for carrying out their duties should be condemned and called on the government to end its “relentless assault on the media.”
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