KUALA LUMPUR: The Prisons Department director-general and Home Ministry should provide an explanation over Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi's visit to meet jailed former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
Lawyer Muhammad Rafique Rashid Ali, in making the call, said such a visit is deemed to be in bad taste and shows "double standards".
He said this is because the procedure for lawyers or family members who wish to visit inmates is quite strict.
"From my experience and based on prison regulations, there are limits placed on visitation, such as a visit is allowed only for as long as 45 minutes. And before you visit, you will have to apply to the Prisons Department or the prison's record department.
"And then you're not allowed to meet the prisoner face to face. You are separated by a glass compartment... and so you would have to speak to the inmate through a phone," Rafique said.
"So, all that has been claimed by Zahid in the first place seems to be not within what is stated in the prison regulations. This begs the question: Where did he get the right to visit and in what capacity was his visit for?
"If at all there was an exemption, the only two persons I can recall who can give him the exemption under the law would be the Prisons Department director-general or the Home Minister," he added.
Zahid, in his speech at the 2023 Umno General Assembly last week, revealed that he had recently visited Najib in Kajang Prison, accompanied by Umno Supreme Council member Shamsul Anuar Nasarah.
Zahid said the visit was to inform Najib about the progress of his pardon for his 12-year jail sentence.
The Umno president also told delegates at the general assembly that he had brought Najib's favourite food and they spent more than an hour having breakfast together.
Rafique said an explanation was needed especially since Zahid had claimed that he was accompanied by Shamsul, who is also deputy home minister.
"Did the Cabinet know about this visit?
"If Zahid's visit is related to the progress of Najib's pardon, would not it be suffice for Najib's lawyers to inform him? Or would it be enough for his family member to do it? Why the need for the Umno president to go?
"The cabinet members should also be asking these questions because it was the deputy prime minister who spoke so openly about it."
Rafique added that the "double standards" in the matter saddens him because normal people have to go through so many procedures to visit their family members in prison. Even then, they cannot bring any food, except during festive visits.