Amri’s family lawyer Nizam Bashir asked him why a security briefing had taken place at the so-called courtesy call, and why Awaluddin had gone to the extent of providing PowerPoint slides at the meeting.
“It’s normal for us at the Special Branch to have PowerPoint slides at such meetings,” Awaluddin responded.
Nizam then suggested that it was not a courtesy call as Awaluddin had previously claimed, but rather a security briefing. However, Awaluddin disagreed.
Awaluddin, who just retired from the Special Branch, had also previously disagreed that Amri was among the topics discussed during the meeting. He claimed he and Asri had discussed topics relating to extremism, including Shia Islam and Perlis Hope, which Awaluddin claimed was a front for Shia activities.
Perlis Hope was an NGO run by Amri.
Nizam then showed Awaluddin a picture of one of the slides being shown at the meeting on Oct 7, 2016. The slide showed a section of Amri’s house, but the lawyer still asked Awaluddin what was in the slide.
“It’s the Shia centre in Perlis,” Awaluddin said.
“Do you know that’s a picture of Amri’s house?” Nizam asked.
“Yes. His house is a Shia centre in Perlis,” Awaluddin said.
“So that means you were talking about Amri?” Nizam asked again.
“No, we were talking about Shia,” Awaluddin replied.
Nizam then said Amri’s wife Norhayati Ariffin had claimed that on Oct 21, 2015, a year before the meeting, Asri and several Islamic religious personnel had conducted a raid on Amri’s house.
“I put it to you that it’s not logical for a PowerPoint presentation to be made with a photo of Amri’s house to the very same parties who had allegedly raided Amri’s house before,” Nizam told Awaluddin. Awaluddin however disagreed.
The lawyer added that soon after the meeting between Awaluddin and Asri, the mufti had made a posting on Facebook urging people in Perlis to beware of Perlis Hope.
“There must have been something said by you during this courtesy call that alarmed the Perlis mufti to the extent that he made a Facebook post warning people of Perlis Hope,” Nizam said. However, Awaluddin disagreed again.
“Are you saying you did not talk about Perlis Hope at all?” Nizam asked.
“We talked about Shia, and our talk may have included Perlis Hope and Amri Che Mat because they are all the same players,” Awaluddin said.