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Agence France-Presse

Malaysian police yesterday freed the head of the pro-democracy group which organised a mass rally calling on Prime Minister ­Najib Razak to resign over a huge corruption scandal.
Maria Chin Abdullah, chair of the pro-reform NGO alliance Bersih, was detained on November 18 on the eve of the rally and kept in solitary confinement.
Her arrest under a law designed to combat terrorism sparked a flurry of international criticism including from the US State Department.
Despite her arrest, around 20,000 Malaysians clad in the ­yellow of the reformist Bersih campaign flooded Kuala Lumpur for the second time in 15 months.
They were venting anger over allegations that billions of dollars were stolen from state investment fund 1MDB, Najib’s brainchild.

“Chin has been freed. She is cheerful,” said her lawyer Gurdial Singh Nijar. “The police freed her because they have no grounds for her detention.”
Human rights lawyer Ambiga Sreenevasan said police had not given a reason why she was freed.
Chin could not be reached for comment but was expected to ­address supporters at Kuala Lumpur’s Independence Square. They have been holding nightly vigils demanding her freedom.
Malaysia has been gripped for more than a year by the allegations of looting involving 1MDB, a state investment fund which Najib founded and oversaw. Najib and 1MDB deny any wrongdoing.

But the US Justice Department – which has filed lawsuits to seize assets it said were purchased with stolen 1MDB money – said the fund was pillaged in an audacious campaign of fraud and theft that involved an unnamed top Malaysian official. A Malaysian cabinet official has since admitted that ­individual was Najib.
Najib last year abruptly shut down Malaysian investigations into the affair, fired the attorney general and purged ruling party critics. Few expect him to be toppled anytime soon.
Najib had earlier condemned Bersih’s rally as an opposition plot “to unseat a democratically-elected government”.
Earlier yesterday, police also raided the office of Empower Malaysia, a women’s rights organisation where Maria was previously executive director.
Empower Malaysia member Honey Tan said via her Twitter ­account lawyers were barred by police from entering the organisation’s office during the raid.
Additional reporting by Reuters


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Head of electoral reform group BersihMaria Chin Abdullah is embraced by her sons after being released by Malaysia Royal Police. Photo: EPA

epa05637739 A group of Malaysian protesters taking a selfie with a placard bearing the likeness of Prime Minister Najib Razak during the BERSIH (The Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections) 5.0 rally in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 19 November 2016. Bersih 5.0 is the fifth such rally since 2007 where anti-government protesters demand clean elections, clean government, strengthened parliamentary democracy, the right to dissent and empowering the eastern state of Sabah and Sarawak. EPA/WALLACE WOON

An activist holds a poster of activist Maria Chin that reads "Women for Maria" during a rally outside parliament in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2016. Bersih chairwoman Maria Chin's detention without trial under the Security Offenses Act were vindictive and aimed at silencing dissent. (AP Photo/Lim Huey Teng)

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