Family spills shocking details on Yusoff Rawther's arrest, police search of his car

The family of Yusoff Rawther has detailed what transpired on the day his arrest in September on charges of possessing firearms and drugs, and recalled how he had been tailed by unknown persons for months.

At a press conference highlighting the plight of the 31-year-old, his aunt Fathima Idris said that on the morning of Sept 6, Yusoff found himself ambushed by a team of policemen in an unmarked car and a motorbike as he walked towards his car parked outside his condominium block.

She said one of them told Yusoff they had information about firearms in his vehicle.

"The police asked him to open the car door but it did not open with the remote, then one of them directed Yusoff to open the car door manually and it still did not work either," said Fathima, who fought back tears as she addressed the media in a press conference, accompanied by Yusoff's younger brother Ebrahim Rawther, his aunt Khatija Idris and his lawyer Rafique Rashid.

Fathima said a police officer then opened the passenger's side of Yusoff's car before asking him to open the driver's door.

She said Yusoff was then restrained while police searched the car, and shortly after, an officer came out with a bag and asked him what was inside, to which Yusoff replied that he did not know. 

At this point, the police took a gun out of the bag, she said.

"They then handcuffed Yusoff, got him to sit in the back of his car together with a police and another one of them drove the car to KL police headquarters and searched the car there."

Fathima said Yusoff could not see what was happening inside the car before the the drugs turned up at the car park in front of the surau of the police headquarters.

She said police repeatedly tried to intimidate Yusoff into signing a "borang bongkar" (seizure list) detailing the items that were allegedly in his car, but he refused.

On Oct 9, Yusoff, the grandson of the late Penang consumer advocate SM Mohamed Idris, pleaded not guilty to possession of imitation weapons under the Firearms Act, facing a imprisonment of up to a year, fine of up to RM5,000 or both.

He also faces another charge under the Dangerous Drugs Act for possessing 305g of cannabis, a non-bailable offence punishable by life imprisonment if convicted.

Yusoff, who was a research assistant to Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim in 2018 before filing a suit against the PKR leader for sexual assault, has maintained that the items were planted in his car by people harbouring a grudge against him.

He has also lodged two police reports with names of people to be investigated, but police have yet to comment on the status of the reports.

Asked who were the individuals named in the police reports, his lawyer Rafique Rashid said today that it was up to the police to reveal them.

Rafique said the police only took Yusoff's statement on the reports once. 

Meanwhile, Fathima said there had been no progress on the status of the complaints.

'Followed everywhere'

At the same press conference, Ebrahim Rawther said his brother had been constantly followed by a car for the past two years.

"He used to work out at a gym in Bukit Damansara, and in the morning he would cycle from his apartment to the gym, and the same car parked outside his house would follow him all the way to the gym, and when he finished at the gym and cycled back to his house, the same car would follow him back"

Ebrahim said he often observed this when he accompanied Yusoff to the gym.

He said two weeks before his arrest, Yusoff was in a shop when a woman approached him and told him someone was trying to take his picture.

"He went out to see who it was, and took a photograph of the person who was following him around," he added.

Fathima said since the arrest, the family has been in constant fear for Yusoff's and their own safety.

"One would have thought that with the repeal of the ISA, that citizens are protected; and that the days of arbitrary detention are all behind us, but only to find that this does not stop the sinister practice of using existing laws to bring trumpedup charges."

She also expressed disappointment at the lack of response from human rights group to Yusoff's plight.

"Yusoff is a victim of unscrupulous scheming and is inhumanely being imprisoned, we need civil society to care about what Yusoff and others like Yusoff are being put through and call for Yusoff to be released. This is a terrible injustice wrecked upon Yusoff."

"Whoever is behind this frame up has no doubt the apparatus of the state at their disposal; we would nevertheless fight this inhumanity even if we only have a Sinwar stick against them," she said, referring to Yahya Sinwar, the late leader of the Palestinian resistance group Hamas who famously threw a stick at an Israeli drone minutes before he was killed.

On July 14,2021, Yusoff filed a suit alleging that Anwar sexually assaulted him in October 2018, days before he won the Port Dickson by-election after serving a ban on active politics due to a previous conviction for sodomy.

Anwar in response claimed that Yusoff had lied under oath to the authorities regarding the sexual assault.

Yusoff has filed a separate suit against Anwar's former political secretary Farhash Wafa Salvador Rizal Mubarak, claiming damages for the injuries he suffered after he was assaulted at Anwar’s bungalow office in Bukit Gasing, Petaling Jaya.

In October 2022, the Shah Alam Sessions Court ordered Anwar's press secretary, Tunku Nashrul Tunku Abaidah, to pay Yusoff RM200,000 in damages for statements he made in connection with the assault case.