Imprisoned Najib files complaint with UN group over alleged unfair SRC trial, seeks release or retrial

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 5 — Former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, who has been imprisoned for more than four months now, today filed a petition with the United Nations Human Rights Council Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (UNWGAD) to seek his release from prison or a retrial of his SRC International Sdn Bhd case.

Najib’s lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah announced this: “We filed it at the Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights addressed in Geneva and this was done today.

“The title of that complaint will obviously be Datuk Seri Najib Razak vs Malaysia because we are taking the country to the UN because we are saying that the country has failed in not giving Datuk Seri Najib the fair trial that he deserves,” Shafee told reporters during a press conference at his office.

He said the filing was done online at around 1.30pm today.

Shafee said Najib wants the five legal experts of the UN working group to hear his petition, adding that his client is seeking for a ruling that the Federal Court's dismissal of his appeal in the SRC case was allegedly "unjust, flawed" and purportedly breaching his human rights and the Federal Constitution.

He said Najib is not asking the UN working group to decide whether he is guilty in the SRC case, but wants them to decide if his SRC trial was fair.

According to Shafee, the UN working group can call upon the Malaysian government to release Najib or grant him a retrial, if the UN group were to find that Najib's trial had been unfair.

Shafee believes that Najib's petition meets the conditions required for the UN working group to hear the complaint.

Asked what jurisdiction the UN working group has on the Malaysian courts or on Malaysia, Shafee said the UNWGAD is "advisory" in nature, but said Malaysia should follow if there is any advice given: "But because you are a member of UN, you abide by the advice of UN body."

Shafee said findings by the UNWGAD are "not directly binding" on Malaysia, but said it would be "very influential" and also suggested that there could be diplomatic consequences if Malaysia does not follow the UN body's findings regarding human rights.

Previously, the Federal Court --- which is the highest court in Malaysia --- had on August 23, 2022 dismissed Najib's final appeal against his conviction in the criminal case over the misappropriation of SRC's RM42 million.

The Federal Court also maintained a 12-year jail sentence and RM210 million fine against Najib in the SRC case, which resulted in the former Umno president being imprisoned the same day on August 23 since he had failed in his final appeal.

Najib had on September 6, 2022 filed an application at the Federal Court to ask for a new panel to review the August 23 decision, with this challenge against his conviction and jail term and fine scheduled to be heard on January 19, 20 and 26. The Federal Court had fixed those hearing dates since October 2022.

Asked why Najib was only filing the petition to the UN working group today about four to five months after his imprisonment, Shafee said it covered the same issues as the review bid at the Federal Court.

Asked how the complaint to the UN working group would affect the January 19 review bid, Shafee said these are two separate matters, adding that this would give Najib two alternative chances instead of just one chance.

"But assuming on January 19, this matter goes on in the Federal Court and assuming we win, we will immediately write to the UN, the same UN working group to advise them this is what happened, therefore the remedy in short has been achieved, they may accommodate what is the latest that has happened in their opinion to the Malaysian government, so it is not inconsistent," he said.

Shafee was asked about the possibility of the UN working group declining to hear Najib's complaint by saying he should first exhaust all his legal options in the Federal Court by waiting for the review to be decided on.

Shafee then suggested that Najib had actually exhausted all his legal avenues in Malaysia after failing in his appeals in the courts against his SRC conviction. (The High Court had on July 28, 2020 found Najib guilty in the SRC case, and Najib had lost his appeals twice in unanimous decisions at the Court of Appeal on December 8, 2021 and at the Federal Court on August 23, 2022.)

"As you know, review is not a process as of right, your right is appeal. We have exhausted appeals, so exhaustion of domestic remedies has been done. This is a mere review vis a vis our letter to the working group," he said.

Asked how soon Najib's lawyers expect a reply from the UN working group, he said it sits three times a year.

He added that the process for the UN working group typically involves them sending Najib's petition to the Malaysian government for the government to provide a response, and Najib's lawyers could then be asked to also provide a response before any findings are made.

He said Najib's petition to the UN working group had also been sent as a courtesy to the international affairs division of the Attorney-General's Chambers today, agreeing that Najib's lawyers could send the same petition to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim as there is no downside in doing so and as the latter endorses the UN body.