Case History: Michelle Yesudas
On 23 March 2015, human rights lawyer Ms Michelle Yesudas was detained and released the same day, after the Inspector-General of Police made a threat via Twitter to summon her for questioning. The day before, her colleague, human rights lawyer Mr Eric Paulsen, was detained after receiving similar threats from the Inspector-General of Police. A court magistrate ordered Eric Paulsen's release on 23 March 2015, refusing the police's request to extend his detention by four days.
Michelle Yesudas is a co-founder and Legal and Campaign Coordinator of Lawyers for Liberty (LFL). LFL is a Malaysian human rights organisation that seeks to challenge unconstitutional and arbitrary decisions and acts perpetrated by the Malaysian government, its agencies and other public authorities. In order to achieve legal reform, it employs public campaigning, strategic litigation, lobbying, policy research and analysis, and human rights education.
On 23 March 2015, human rights lawyer Ms Michelle Yesudas was detained and released the same day, after the Inspector-General of Police made a threat via Twitter to summon her for questioning. The day before, her colleague, human rights lawyer Mr Eric Paulsen, was detained after receiving similar threats from the Inspector-General of Police. A court magistrate ordered Eric Paulsen's release on 23 March 2015, refusing the police's request to extend his detention by four days.
The detention of Michelle Yesudas followed an exchange between the the human rights lawyer and the Inspector-General of Police regarding comments tweeted by Michelle Yesudas on 20 March 2015 concerning threats of rape made against a television presenter. The presenter had reported on a bill introduced by the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) to expand the application of Islamic law in the state of Kelantan. The human rights lawyer had criticised the tweets made by the Inspector-General of Police regarding her own comments, defending her statements and calling on the Inspector-General of Police to investigate the threats of rape rather than her tweets.
On 22 March 2015, Eric Paulsen was detained at Dataran Merdeka underground station at approximately 4:50 pm on 22 March 2015, and taken for questioning in relation to accusations of sedition due to statements he had made on Twitter the same day. The human rights lawyer had made critical comments regarding the proposed legislation in Kelantan. The arrest came after the Inspector-General of Police had reportedly declared that the human rights defender should “watch his mouth” and refrain from commenting on religious matters. The Inspector-General also made a comment on Twitter stating that the police would review Eric Paulsen's tweets and take action.
Previously, on 5 February 2015, Eric Paulsen was charged with sedition. The accusations stemmed from a tweet posted by the human rights defender on 9 January 2015, accusing the Malaysian Islamic Development Department (Jakim), the main federal agency managing Islamic affairs, of promoting extremism in its Friday sermons.
