Charles Hector with Adrienn Sallai (Third Secretary Political Affairs of the European Union Delegation to Malaysia ( in the middle )
Lawyers Francis Pereira ( on the right ) update the legal case for Heikki Vandermander, the Deputy Head of Mission from the Royal Embassy of Belgium
Asahi Kosei Sdn Bhd –V- Charles Hector Fernandez(Case No: 22 NCVC – 173 – 2011) was fixed before Judge Lim Yee Lan at the Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia NCVC Court at the Shah Alam Court Complex at 2.30pm, 7/4/2011 for a decision of 2 applications, When parties arrived in court, they were informed by the court that the said Judge was on medical leave that day, and the handing down of the decision have now been re-scheduled for 11/4/2011 at 10.00 am.
The said 2 applications, in brief, are:-
a) The Asahi Kosei’s application for an interlocutory (temporary) injunction, in brief, is for an injunction same as the one they applied for and got on 17/2/2011(without the knowledge or presence of Charles Hector and/or his lawyers), which lapsed on 4/3/2011.
Asahi kosei lawyers applied for a ‘holding over’ order until this hearing is decided by the court, and Charles Hector’s lawyers objected. The court then granted a much narrow order, confining to just the 31 Burmese Migrant Workers and restricting Charles Hector from communicating only through the blog www.charleshector.blogspot.com and twitter [previously it was a total ‘gag order’ and included all forms of communication].
(b) The hearing of Charles Hector’s application to set aside the said ex-parte order of 17/2/2011.
In court today:-
Charles Hector was represented by lawyers Francis Pereira
Asahi Kosei Sdn Bhd was represented by lawyer John Fam and Tan Tai Hwa
Malaysian Bar (Holding a Watching Brief) was represented by Daniel Lo
* Representatives from civil society, human rights groups and the Burmese migrant community were also present in court as a show of support and solidarity. Media was also present today in greater numbers. Adrienn Sallai (Third Secretary Political Affairs of the European Union Delegation to Malaysia) and another from the EU, and Heikki Vandermander, the Deputy Head of Mission from the Royal Embassy of Belgium was also present today. We appreciate your continued support and show of solidarity. Thank you also for the many well wishes we received from friends and colleagues in the struggle for human rights and justice.
Next hearing date: 11/4/2011(Monday), at 10.00 am
Charles Hector, Human Rights Defender, Activist, Lawyer & Blogger is being sued by the company for defamation for raising information of human rights and worker rights violations of workers working in the said company on his Blog. Information circulated came from the 31 migrant workers from Burma. Before any posting, an email was sent to Asahi Kosei for their response, which contained also these words, “If there are anything that you would like to correct, kindly revert to me immediately. …An urgent response would be appreciated. Failing to hear from you, I would take it that the allegations of the workers are true.”. The company did not respond, and subsequently commenced a legal suit 6 days later.
The company’s main argument is that these are not their workers, but are workers supplied by an ‘outsourcing agent’. The company says that these workers are not on their ‘direct payroll’ …salaries are paid to the agent, hence they are not responsible for these workers, and for what happened. The company claims no knowledge of any termination or attempted deportation….or any ‘new agreement’.
Charles Hector is of the opinion that once the workers are supplied to the company, then an employment relationship arises…between the workers and the said company…A company must be responsible for all workers that work in their factory.
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