Siti Kasim arrested for obstruction, criminal intimidation

KUALA LUMPUR: Lawyer Siti Kasim was arrested yesterday afternoon for criminal intimidation and for allegedly obstructing a public servant last Sunday during a raid on a closed-door event organised by the transgender community.

The lawyer has been released on police bail.

In a Facebook post, Siti said she was arrested at the Dang Wangi Police Station where she had gone to give her statement regarding a police report she had lodged against the Federal Territories Islamic Religious Department (Jawi).

“If I had managed to stop the overzealous officers from arresting many of the transgenders that night from being humiliated and punished unlawfully, I would gladly be charged for the offence.

“Perhaps, they were intimidated by my loud voice and blond hair with flowers. Religious people can be very sensitive you know,” she wrote, defending her actions and declaring that she was merely carrying out her duties as a lawyer for her clients.

She also declared she would not back down and was willing to do what she did “a hundred times over” as she was strongly opposed to any form of tyranny especially under the guise of religion.

She said she was not afraid of so-called religious bodies, but only terrified of “God and ghosts.”

Siti’s arrest came in the wake of a video she posted online of the fracas where she was clearly seen alongside a transgender embroiled in a shouting match with Jawi officers.

In the video’s description, Siti said it was obvious Jawi officers came to disrupt the event and even went to the extent of sensationalising the raid by bringing the media with them.

Siti, who was also picked-up by Jawi officers during the raid, clarified that the event was a charity fundraiser where some transgenders paraded as contestants in a mock beauty pageant.

 

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