Latest news with #publicorder
Malay Mail
a day ago
- General
- Malay Mail
Police arrest 13 under Sosma for communication cable theft targeting Selangor and KL's critical infrastructure
SHAH ALAM, May 30 — Police have arrested 13 individuals under the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 (SOSMA), in connection with their involvement in communication cable theft, believed to be with intent to sabotage major communication systems in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur. Selangor Police Chief Datuk Hussein Omar Khan stated that all suspects, arrested through Op Lusuh Mulia, committed these crimes along critical routes supporting government data infrastructure and the security sector. 'Disruptions to these facilities have the significant potential to affect the maintenance of telecommunication services and related communication infrastructure, thereby threatening public order. 'Therefore, all suspects will be further detained for a period not exceeding 28 days under the provisions of Section 4(5) of SOSMA to assist the ongoing investigation,' he said in a statement today. He added that the police are committed to combating crimes that can threaten national security and public well-being, while also calling for public cooperation to help curb criminal activities. The case is being investigated under Section 124 of the Penal Code. Previously, Hussein was reported to have said that five police personnel, including two Sergeants and three Corporals, were mastermminds behind cable theft activities around Kuala Lumpur and Selangor for the past year. He stated that the police personnel, who were stationed at District Police Headquarters (IPD) and police stations around the two states, were among 16 suspects, including a woman, aged between 23 and 53, arrested for involvement in the syndicate known as 'Sindiket Mulia' (Mulia Syndicate), named after its leader. — Bernama
Telegraph
2 days ago
- General
- Telegraph
Why I stepped in to confront fare dodger
Britain is broken. Law-breaking is rife. Graffiti is everywhere. Many of our high streets are now a mix of charity stores, vape shops, and fake American candy stores. There is a collapse of basic standards in public spaces – hop on the bus and you're likely to be greeted with terrible music from someone else, stubbornly refusing to wear headphones. It's a total mess. Once-proud towns and cities are having their soul ripped out of them by petty law-breakers. Police are bystanders in this new system, reduced to a crime-reporting outfit rather than a proactive law-enforcement body. They seem more interested in poor-taste messages online, than the bread and butter, common-sense policing of our laws. I've had enough. Our public realm has been steadily chipped away at and too few people in authority are doing anything about it. Our leaders seem to just shrug their shoulders, unwilling to act – resigned to defeat. Many of them don't even notice the disorder as they spend their time in the protected bubble that is SW1. That's why last Saturday I went to Stratford station – one of the worst hotspots for fare dodging – to try and shame London's do-nothing mayor, Sadiq Khan, into action. His general approach to stopping law-breaking is to legalise it: just look at his comments on cannabis this week. According to YouGov, 79 per cent of train and Tube passengers say that they have personally seen fare dodging. Statistics show that one in 25 people who use the capital's public transport is not paying. But from my morning in Stratford station the problem must be much bigger than that. I watched as people flooded through an empty barrier, while the enforcement officer was on his backside, feet up, watching on. It was a perfect encapsulation of Broken Britain. Across London, the rate of prosecution for fare evasion is declining year-on-year. Pre-pandemic, in 2018/19, TfL prosecuted 31,003 people for fare evasion – in 2023/24, that figure stood at 18,570. There is now no deterrent for fare dodging and, unsurprisingly, it has exploded as a result. For ordinary hard-working citizens travelling into work on their morning commute, the sight of somebody slipping through the barriers without paying is a slap in the face. People who do the right thing are made to look like fools for sticking to the law, while others benefit from breaking the rules with impunity. The British state needs to reassert itself. In 1982, two social scientists in the US came up with the 'broken windows' theory of policing. They argued that visible signs of crime, antisocial behaviour, and disorder create an environment which encourages even more crime and disorder. That idea was taken up in the 1990s by William Bratton, New York's police commissioner under no-nonsense Mayor Rudy Giuliani, at a time when crime in the city was totally out of control. Bratton cracked down on fare evasion, public disorder, and graffiti. As a result, rates of both petty crime and serious crime fell sharply. Crime declined for the following decade. When the state shows the public that it cares, it creates an environment in which law and order is the norm. The rule of law requires that our laws are actually enforced. When small ones aren't applied, more serious offences inevitably follow. Before you know it, law and order has completely broken down and the state is left impotent, lacking all authority. That's where we're heading.
Irish Times
2 days ago
- General
- Irish Times
Man charged over grossly offensive communication on TikTok about ‘slicing Irish babies'
A man was brought before a special sitting of Portlaoise District Court has been charged with offences relating to a message he allegedly posted on his social media page. Beniamin Petre of no fixed abode was charged that on May 24th at an unknown location in Dublin that he published 'a grossly offensive communication on TikTok social media about slicing Irish babies, kids and you,' with intent to cause harm, contrary to Section 4(1) and (3) of the Harassment, Harmful Communications and Related Offences Act 2020. He was further charged that on the same date at an unknown location in Dublin he used or engaged in threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour with intent to provoke a breach of the peace, or hatred towards the people of Ireland, contrary to Section 6A of the Criminal Justice (Public Order) Act 1994. Detective Garda Mark Russell said he arrested the 50-year old defendant on May 28th at Rathmiles, Abbeyleix, Co. Laois and conveyed him to Abbeyleix Garda Station where he was detained. READ MORE He said when charged and cautioned his reply to first charge was, 'I can't say anything, as you are not listening Mark.' In reply to the second cautioned charge he replied: 'I have nothing to say.' Det. Russell said that he was seeking directions from the Director of Public Prosecutions and that there may be further charges. Defending solicitor Josephine Fitzpatrick said that her client was not seeking bail and was consenting to be remanded in custody. Judge Andrew Cody remanded Mr Petre in custody to appear again at Portlaoise District Court on Thursday June 5th by video link. He also marked on the detention order that the defendant receive an urgent medical assessment while in custody.
Daily Mail
3 days ago
- General
- Daily Mail
Britain risks 'reintroducing a blasphemy law' by prosecuting man, 50, who allegedly shouted 'f*** Islam' as he burned Koran outside Turkish consulate, court hears
The prosecution of a man who allegedly burned a Koran outside the Turkish consulate in London risks 'reintroducing a blasphemy law' in the UK, a court heard today. Hamit Coskun, 50, allegedly shouted 'f*** Islam', 'Islam is religion of terrorism' and Koran is burning' as he held the flaming Muslim holy book aloft in Rutland Gardens, Knightsbridge, on February 13. He pleaded not guilty to a religiously aggravated public order offence of using disorderly behaviour motivated by 'hostility towards members of a religious group, namely followers of Islam' and also denied an alternative charge of using disorderly behaviour. Turkey-born Coskun, who is half Kurdish and half Armenian, appeared at Westminster Magistrates' Court today for his trial wearing a charcoal hoodie, dark trousers and white trainers. He travelled from his home in the Midlands on February 13 and set fire to the Koran at around 2pm, the court heard. He allegedly shouted 'f*** Islam', 'Islam is religion of terrorism' and Koran is burning' as he held the flaming Muslim holy book aloft in Rutland Gardens, Knightsbridge, on February 13. Coskun had posted on social media that he was protesting against the 'Islamist government' of Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan who the defendant allegedly said 'has made Turkey a base for radical Islamists and is trying to establish a sharia regime'. Katy Thorne KC, defending, said: 'The prosecution, in bringing this prosecution at all, is seeking to introduce a law unknown to this land, namely blasphemy in relation to Islam.' Blasphemy laws were abolished in England and Wales in 2008 and in Scotland in 2021. Ms Thorne said that burning the Koran 'cannot be a criminal offence' and accused the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) of an abuse of process in its decision to bring the case against Coskun. She said in her written argument: 'To render such an act a criminal offence is tantamount to reintroducing a blasphemy law in relation to Islam, rendering the Koran a specially protected object in the UK, where a flag or another book would not be, and rendering trenchant or offensive criticism of Islam a criminal offence, is also akin to reinstating an offence of blasphemy. 'People must be free to exercise their religious or non-religious beliefs and to manifest those beliefs in whatever non-violent way they choose, and any curtailing by the state of that freedom must be absolutely necessary in a democratic society.' Ms Thorne said that Coskun 'did not exhort hate' but voiced his dislike and frustration with a religion. She added: 'He expressed nothing to suggest that he was hostile to those who followed Islam. 'He did so outside the Turkish Consulate, a political institution, which provides further evidence he was not seeking to persuade others to dislike Islam, but express his personal criticism of Turkey and its stance on Islam. 'His protest was specifically political and thus, it is submitted, requires the highest protection of freedom of speech.' Prosecutor Philip McGhee said that Coskun was not being prosecuted simply for the burning of the Koran, but for 'disorderly conduct'. Mr McGhee said of Ms Thorne's argument: 'There is simply no misconduct in this case.' District Judge John McGarva ruled that there was no abuse of process and dismissed the application. Mr McGhee added that the decision to prosecute does not affect the ability of others to criticise religion. The prosecutor had earlier said that Coskun had deliberately chosen the time and location of his demonstration. 'His actions gave rise to a very clear threat to public order and went beyond a legitimate expression of protest, crossing the line to pose a threat to public order,' he told the court. But Coskun, who is an atheist, believes that he protested peacefully and burning the amounted to freedom of expression. Ahead of his trial, in a quote released through the Free Speech Union, he said: 'Encountering such treatment in a country like England, which I truly believed to be a place where freedom prevailed, was a real shock to me.' His legal fees are being paid for by the Free Speech Union and the National Secular Society (NSS). The Free Speech Union said it is defending him 'not because we're anti-Islam, but because we believe no one should be compelled to observe the blasphemy codes of any religion, whether Christian or Muslim'. It said Coskun is an asylum seeker who fled Turkey, having been a political prisoner for almost a decade, who 'thought he was coming to a democratic country where he would be free to peacefully protest about a particular religion'. Lord Young of Acton, general secretary of the organisation, added: 'The rights to peaceful protest and freedom of expression are sacrosanct and should not be disregarded because of fears about inflaming community tensions in a multicultural society.' Stephen Evans, chief executive of the NSS said: 'A successful prosecution in this case could represent the effective criminalisation of damaging a Koran in public, edging us dangerously close to a prohibition on blasphemy. 'The case also highlights the alarming use of public order laws to curtail our collective right to protest and free speech based on the subjective reactions of others. 'Establishing a right not to be offended threatens the very foundation of free expression.' A spokesperson for Humanists UK said that a successful prosecution would 'effectively resurrect the crime of blasphemy in England and Wales - 17 years after its abolition'. They added: 'This reintroduction of blasphemy by the back door would have profound consequences, not only for free expression in the UK but for the safety and wellbeing of hundreds of thousands of so-called 'apostates' in the UK and their right to freedom of thought and conscience.' The trial, which is due to last one-day, continues.
CNA
5 days ago
- Politics
- CNA
Two to be charged for instructing foreign workers to hold placards in illegal protests
SINGAPORE: Two people will be charged in court on Tuesday (May 27) for allegedly organising illegal public assemblies involving foreign workers. The duo, a 33-year-old woman and a 36-year-old man, will also be charged for abetting foreign workers to commit offences under the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act (EFMA). In a joint press release on Monday (May 26), the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) and the police said that the woman is accused of directing 15 foreign workers under her employment to gather outside two construction sites on Oct 24 last year. She also instructed the workers to hold placards to demand payments owed to her company. At the first construction site along Jalan Satu, she allegedly gave six workers four placards and instructed them to stand outside the site with the signs, the statement said. The woman then allegedly hired a delivery service to deliver another four placards to nine other foreign workers with similar instructions at the second construction site along Tengah Garden Walk. The authorities added that the man, who will be charged in court along with the woman, had aided the offence by going to the second construction site to "ensure that the foreign workers complied with the woman's instructions". "The duo and the foreign workers did not have a permit under Section 7 of the Public Order Act (POA) to carry out these public assemblies," said MOM and the police. "Investigations into the 15 foreign workers for their involvement have concluded and no further action will be taken against them as the police had ascertained that they were acting under the instructions of their employer and had no intention of breaking the law." Last October, MOM said on Facebook that it was aware of a social media post regarding several migrant workers holding placards at a worksite on Oct 24, 2024. "MOM has engaged the migrant workers involved," the ministry said. "The workers shared that they were not owed salary payments and did not report any well-being concerns." Then-Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam, when asked in parliament by former Non-Constituency Member of Parliament Hazel Poa about the incident, also reiterated that the workers were not owed salary payments and had no well-being concerns. "MOM is also investigating the employer for illegally deploying the workers and abetting the workers to perform illegal acts under the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act, and will take appropriate actions if necessary," said Mr Shanmugam. The police reminded the public that organising or taking part in a public assembly without a police permit in Singapore is illegal and is an offence. Anyone found organising a public assembly without a permit can be fined up to S$5,000 (US$3,893).
