Lawyers for Liberty has stated that the federal government of Malaysia and other Malaysian governmental authorities carry out "many unconstitutional, arbitrary and unreasonable decisions and acts". LFL claims to oppose these decisions and acts through "public campaigning, test case litigation and intervention, parliamentary lobbying", research, education.
Structure and leadership
Lawyers for Liberty consists of volunteer lawyers and activists. LFL is a pseudo-NGO with close links to People's Justice Party. This can be seen with Latheefa Koya and N. Surendran being key members in the organisation.
Actions
In December 2010, Lawyers for Liberty published statistics of fatal police shootings in Malaysia from 2000 to 2009, reporting that there were typically five to 27 fatal shootings per year, with a maximum of 88 deaths in 2009 and a total of 279 over the decade defined as 2000–2009. LFL member N. Surendran interpreted the data as evidence for police "lawlessness", stating, "They know they can commit murder without being called into account and that is a tremendous power to put in the hands of a human being to tell him that go ahead, commit murder, we will protect you." In June 2011, LFL gave an interview with Radio Australia regarding a possible exchange of refugees between Malaysia and Australia. In August 2011, LFL criticised police questioning of an editor and journalist of the newspaper , associated with the People's Justice Party, and a member of the party, over an article appearing in the newspaper, as "baseless and a form of harassment".
Hamza Kashgari
In February 2012, a Saudi Arabian poet and journalist Hamza Kashgari, who had published three tweets of a would-be conversation with Muhammad, tried to leave Kuala Lumpur to seek political asylum in New Zealand in order to avoid apostasy or blasphemy charges and likely execution, and was detained by Malaysian authorities. LFL members attempted to contact Kashgari during his detention. They obtained a High Court injunction at about 13:30 to 13:45 on 12 February against him being deported back to Saudi Arabia. He was deported to Riyadh on the same day. Lawyers for Liberty checked immigration records at Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport and Kuala Lumpur International Airport, finding no record of deportation. Lawyer K. Ragunath and several members of LFL filed a habeas corpus affidavit against the Inspector-General of Police, the Immigration Director-General, the Home Minister and the federal government of Malaysia, alleging that "they been misled throughout Kashgari's arrest and deportation." Fadiah Nadwa Fikri of LFL referred to the authorities' initial claim of an Interpol request that was later denied, an incorrect claim of Kashgari's arrival date in Malaysia, and a claim that Kashgari had been deported "according to a 'lang-standing arrangement' Malaysia and Saudia Arabia." Fadiah said that no such treaty or official documentation exists. LFL accused the Malaysian authorities of violating international law in their de facto deportation of Kashgari. LFL stated that it would continue to campaign for Kashgari's release to prevent him from being executed for his three allegedly blasphemous tweets.
