NETIZENS have berated incarcerated ex-premier Datuk Seri Najib Razak for making a mockery of the Malaysian judiciary system by turning to the United Nations (UN) to seek his innocence, describing his action as “our stupidity goes global”, “Mr Nandela of Malaysia fight for human right” and “a new comedy court unfolding”, among many others.
Yesterday (Jan 5), Najib submitted a petition before the United Nations Human Rights Council Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (UNWGAD) to seek a release or a retrial following an appeal hearing at the Federal Court “which had serious defects and was contrary to the rules of international justice”.
According to his legal counsel Messrs Shafee & Co, he is asking the UNWGAD panel of five experts on international justice to rule that the dismissal of his appeal by the Federal Court on Aug 23 last year was unjust, flawed and violated his basic human rights and the Federal Constitution.
“The Federal court proceedings failed to accord him a reasonable opportunity to argue his case and denied his lawyers adequate time to prepare it,” Najib claimed in a media statement. “The court did not allow his defence team even to make submissions in the appeal against his sentence of 12 years imprisonment.
To re-cap, the Federal Court in Putrajaya had on Aug 23 last year denied Najib’s appeal to quash his 12-year jail sentence in the RM42 mil SRC International corruption case. Najib is currently serving his jail term at Kajang Prison.
His application to review the judicial verdict is set to come up for hearing before a new quorum of the Federal Court in Putrajaya on Jan 19.
“My take is that Shafee (Tan Sri Mohamed Shafee Abdullah)/Najib are further damaging the Malaysian nation! They should be punished severely,” screamed Malaysiakini subscriber OrangeeViper2887 upon learning of Najib’s latest legal manoeuvre.
GanMu whose comment fetched 14 Likes wondered if Najib’s lawyer is emboldened to take the unprecedented matter up before UNWGAD because “out of the five UNWGAD members, one of them is Ms Priya Gopalan (Malaysia) who was appointed in 2021”.
“Will she abstain when this comes up for a hearing by UNWGAD out of deference to our Federal Court judges? Malaysia is no third world country where there is no rule of law,” asked the netizen sensibly.
“Our highest Court had made its judgement strictly in accordance with procedures and Najib was given every opportunity to defend himself and when he fails, he has to accept the decision in dignity.”
Added the seemingly learned GanMu: “The reputation of our Malaysian is beyond question and is secondary to none. This a direct insult and an affront to our judiciary to appeal beyond Malaysian shores.”
New MY cautioned Najib that UNWGAD “will surely open up a bigger can of worms” if they dig deeper into the whole case which involve US judiciary”.
“We hope UN will trace all the corrupted money he and family accumulated in oversea banks and return every single cent to Malaysia,” enthused the netizen. “Men propose but God disposes.”
Likewise, fml forewarned Najib that his action “will only add fuel to his guilty verdict and make it known to the whole world that this infamous kleptocrate is from our country”.
To conclude with a spiritual reminder to Najib, BrownMacaw9225 and GreenTurtle6724 wondered if Malaysia’s sixth PM and former Pekan MP “can undo the wrath of karma?” – Jan 6, 2023
