SMVN in the News
High Court orders controversial Muslim preacher Firdaus Wong to remove conversion video for minors from TikTok pending trial
October 3, 2024
KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 3 — Controversial Chinese Muslim preacher Firdaus Wong was today ordered by the High Court here to temporarily take down a TikTok video said to provide advice to minors on how to embrace Islam without their parents’ knowledge or consent.
Judge Datuk Amarjeet Singh ruled on the ex-parte injunction that had been filed by several non-Muslim parents to maintain the status quo during ongoing legal proceedings, news portal Malaysiakini reported this morning.
“The court has set Oct 17 for inter parte hearing,” lawyer M. Visvanathan, representing the non-Muslim parents, was quoted as saying.
Click here for Malay Mail report.
PUTRAJAYA: The Federal Court here today dismissed the police and the government's application for leave to appeal against the Court of Appeal's decision which found them negligent over a businesswoman's death in a police lockup in 2018.
The Federal Court ruling was delivered by a three member panel comprising Datuk Mary Lim Thiam Suan, Datuk Nordin Hassan and Datuk Abu Bakar.
Click here for article.
March 12, 2024
Negligence suit: Federal Court Dismisses Police, Govt's Bid for Leave to Appeal
Make me ad hoc prosecutor, I’ll solve Beng Hock’s case in 21 days, says lawyer
3 June 2025
KUALA LUMPUR:
Lawyer-activist M Visvanathan has proposed that the Attorney-General’s Chambers appoint him as an ad hoc prosecutor to oversee the case involving Teoh Beng Hock’s death.
Visvanathan, chairman of Eliminating Deaths and Abuse in Custody Together (Edict), said he would be able to solve the case within 21 days if he were appointed as a special prosecutor.
Click here for article.
Ex-AG poses five questions of law while seeking to reinstate RM10m defamation suit against Kit Siang
December 7, 2023
Former attorney general (AG) Tan Sri Mohamed Apandi Ali has filed five questions of law in his motion for leave to appeal against the dismissal of his defamation suit against Tan Sri Lim Kit Siang over the DAP stalwart's Facebook post on the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) fiasco.
The questions include if Apandi's actions taken as the AG, including the exercise of his prosecutorial discretion under Article 145(3) of the Federal Constitution, are justiciable.
The notice was filed last Friday by Apandi’s solicitors Messrs Saibullah MV Nathan & Co. This was confirmed by Apandi's counsels Rueben Mathivaranam and M Visvanathan.
Click here for article.
Lawyer calls for dedicated coroner’s court to address custodial deaths
July 16, 2024
KUALA LUMPUR:
A lawyer has urged the government to set up a dedicated coroner’s court to investigate custodial deaths.
M Visvanathan, who was involved in the 2009 custodial death case of R Gunasegaran at the Sentul police station, said the current courts handling these cases were also handling other matters.
We need a specialised court set up under a Coroner’s (Court) Act to investigate these kind of deaths,
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Cops abused power in shooting of 3 men, including Sri Lankan, coroner finds
May 31, 2022
The coroner’s court today concluded that there was abuse of power and elements of a criminal nature in the death of three men who were shot at close range by police three years ago.
Coroner Rasyihah Ghazali said, on the balance of probabilities, S Mahendran, G Thavaselvan and his brother-in-law J Vijayaratnam, a Sri Lankan national, died of gunshot wounds on their heads and chests.
“The shots were not fired in self-defence. There was abuse of power and (actions in the nature of) criminal elements by police in the death of the men,” she said this evening at the end of an inquest.
Lawyer M Visvanathan, who held a watching brief for the family of Thavaselvan and Vijayaratnam, said he had instructions to file a civil suit following today’s verdict.
“We have four months to do so as the three-year limitation period to file a legal action against the government will set in by September,” said Visvanathan who was assisted by V Sanjay Nathan.
Click here for article.
Click here for KiniTV report.
Click here for Malaysiakini report.
Landmark judgement: Federal Court says govt to award aggravated damages for death in police custody | The Edge Markets
22 March 2021
PUTRAJAYA (March 22): In a landmark judgement, the Federal Court here ruled today for the first time that the Malaysian government is required to award aggravated damages to the next of kin of a person who dies while in police custody.
Click here for article.
Photo courtesy of The Edge Markets
Kit Siang dodges questions by lawyer regarding 2015 claim on charges against Najib } The Edge
8 April 2021
During cross-examination by Apandi's lawyer M Visvanathan, proceedings got heated as Kit Siang evaded the lawyer's questions about the removal of Abdul Gani as attorney general and about the charge sheets which Abdul Gani allegedly prepared in 2015.
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Police liable for death of detainee in lockup, court rules
October 30, 2023
The Court of Appeal has entered judgment against the police and government for negligence over the death of a businessman detained in a Shah Alam police lockup five years ago.
A three-member bench chaired by Justice Lee Swee Seng ruled that businessman S Thanabalan’s widow, V Santhi, and father, P Vathian, had sufficiently discharged their burden of proof on the totality of evidence.
Lawyers M Visvanathan, R Karnan and V Sanjay Visvanathan represented Santhi and Vathian, while senior federal counsel Syakimah Ibrahim and federal counsel Ashraf Abdul Hamid appeared for the government.
Family appeals in suit over doctor's 'suspicious' death
July 12, 2024
The family of Dr Sebastian Joseph has gone to the Court of Appeal to hold the government and police responsible over his ‘botched’ autopsy following a ‘suspicious’ death in Langkawi nearly 13 years ago.
When contacted by Malaysiakini, the family’s counsel M Visvanathan confirmed they filed their notice of appeal against the decision of the High Court in Kuala Lumpur on June 22.
The family’s co-counsel V Sanjay Nathan today also confirmed that the notice of appeal was filed on Thursday last week.
Click here for article.
Death in custody: High Court awards RM197,600 compensation
May 20, 2024
GEORGE TOWN: The Penang High Court today ordered the government and the Royal Malaysia Police to pay compensation totalling RM197,600 to the family of Mohd Fadzrin Zaidi, 29, who died while in custody at Seberang Perai Utara District Police Headquarters (SPU IPD) in 2019.
The Court determined a payment of RM50,000 for legal costs, RM57,600 for loss of dependency, RM30,000 for pain and suffering, RM50,000 for aggravated damages, RM3,000 for funeral expenses, RM5,000 for the cost of obtaining letters of administration for the estate and RM2,000 for travel expenses.
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