KUALA LUMPUR, July 6 — Suara Rakyat Malaysia (Suaram) legal representative Rajsurian Pillai said that individuals called up by the police today over a short animation on alleged police brutality were called in as witnesses and not suspects. 

He said the three activists from Suaram namely —  Kua Kia Soong, Sevan Doraisamy, and Mohammad Alshatri —  and Sharon Wah from Misi Solidariti were called in to assist the police investigation.

Rajsurian said that the individuals are being investigated under Section 500 of the Penal Code for defamation, Section 505(b) of the Penal Code for “statements conducing to public mischief”, and Section 233(1)(a) of the Communications and Multimedia Act for improper use of network facilities.

“I would not say they are suspects, they are more like witnesses so far (into the investigation).

“Nothing was confiscated, no raiding happened, just (gave) statement and they were in for less than one hour... everything went smoothly,” Rajsurian said in front of the Bukit Aman police headquarters today.

Yesterday, Suaram confirmed that four individuals were called to assist the investigation over an animated video titled Chilli Powder & Thinner, which details allegations of torture and abuse suffered by three Malaysian boys in police custody following their arrest, based on the testimony of one of the teens.

Last week, it was reported that the police raided the production house Freedom Film Network (FFN) in Petaling Jaya, Selangor co-founded by filmmaker Anna Har, and cartoonist Amin Landak’s home in Wangsa Maju.

Both Har and Amin were questioned under the same investigation that the four individuals faced today.