The Malaysian Insight

MEDIA reportage on A. Ganapathy’s death does not amount to disrupting the peace, rights group Amnesty International said on news that Malaysiakini reporters have been hauled up by the police over the matter.

The 44-year-old’s family deserves to know about his death, after sustaining injuries while in police custody, and they deserve justice, Amnesty said in a statement tweeted tonight.

“Reporting on the case, talking about the case, demanding a transparent investigation, asking for #JusticeForGanapathy is not disrupting ‘public peace’. Violence + injustice is the disruption of peace.

“The press must be able to report on this, the public has a right to know,” Amnesty tweeted.

Ganapathy died on April 18 in Selayang Hospital where police had sent him for medical treatment. He spent a month in hospital and had already been in police custody for 12 days prior that.

He was initially arrested on February 24 to assist in investigations into crimes allegedly committed by his brother.

Amnesty was responding to the police’s summoning of three Malaysiakini journalists over articles published regarding Ganapathy’s death, which carried statements by his lawyer that the father of two was beaten while in police custody.

The journalists are being investigated under Section 505 (b) of the Penal Code over the “spread of rumours that can cause fear and alarm to the public, which could induce a person to commit an offence against the state or to public peace”.

Ganapathy’s lawyer Ganesh Kanagaretnam said that the press should have every right to report on this matter as it is the interest of the public.

“If they are trying to intimidate the press, that means the press are on the right track, and they now want to suppress the truth,” Ganesh told The Malaysian Insight. – May 18, 2021.