Cops should tackle real crime, not check people's phones for porn: Lawyer

Cops should tackle real crime, not check people's phones for porn: Lawyer


Published: Jul 23, 2025 7:55 AM
Updated: 11:24 AM


Summary

• The police should focus on tackling real crime rather than checking people’s phones for pornography, says a lawyer whose clients were charged and fined following a police raid on a HIV/Aids health outreach programme.

• Samantha Chong stresses that the police were unable to find any wrongdoing at the programme before resorting to checking people’s phones.

A lawyer has called on the police to focus their resources on tackling genuine crimes rather than searching through people’s mobile phones.

Samantha Chong took to Facebook to criticise the approach, after her clients spent five days in custody in Kelantan, before being prosecuted and fined for having pornographic content on their devices.

She said the men have been left traumatised by the experience.

“I wish the police would focus more on other crimes such as drug trafficking, violent crimes, child sexual exploitation, domestic violence, corruption, fraud, and track down ex-husbands who refuse to pay maintenance for their children, instead of checking all our phones,” she said.

According to Bernama, the three defendants - two of whom are university students - received fines ranging from RM3,000 to RM4,000 when they appeared before Kota Bharu Magistrates' Court on Sunday.

They had admitted guilt to charges of possessing explicit material.

The court imposed RM4,000 penalties on Al Azamuddin Al Fadzil, 22, and Syahmi Firas Jurij, 27, whilst Hanafi Ibrahim, 47, received a RM3,000 fine.

Magistrate Wan Izzat Wan Abdullah heard their guilty pleas to separate charges.

The prosecution alleged the men had explicit videos and photographs stored on their phones when discovered at a residence in Jalan Kemumin, Kampung Pulau Belacan, Panchor, on June 18, at 1.15am.

The three were detained by the police after attending a health programme at the said venue before police raided the event, claiming it to be a “gay party”.

“I would like to emphasise that no drugs were found, no one was caught using drugs that night. No one was having sex at the event place. There was even a giant banner with ‘Program Mesra Kesihatan Komuniti’ written on it.

“Doctors from a health clinic were invited to give talks on HIV prevention and awareness. There were also ongoing counselling sessions. It was when the police found nothing that they decided to go through mobile phones one by one.

“Ladies and gentlemen, never browse pornographic websites with your phone, if not, the police will still be able to retrieve obscene images in your phone even if you have deleted the images and videos. Please make sure you don’t have intimate/obscene pictures/videos in your phone,” Chong said.

On July 18, a coalition of 31 NGOs and individuals had pushed back against police claims about the programme being an event for gays, insisting that the event was a legitimate HIV awareness and health outreach session.

In a joint statement, the NGOs, which include Justice for Sisters, Suaram, Women’s Aid Organisation, PSM, and Amnesty International Malaysia, described the June programme in Kota Bharu as a public health event aimed at providing access to HIV-related services.

Health Ministry confirms programme was legit

The Health Ministry yesterday affirmed that the event was indeed a health outreach programme by an NGO focusing on HIV, which it supported.

However, the ministry made no comments regarding the police raid.

The affirmation came in the form of a reply from Health Minister Dzulkefly Ahmad on X last night, to another post asking him and the ministry to defend the HIV outreach programme.

In his response, Dzulkefly posted an English translation of a statement issued by Kelantan Health director Dr Zaini Hussin, which he also attached, commenting on the programme.