December 13, 2007 15:08 PM     
KUALA TERENGGANU, Dec 13 (Bernama) — The Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) on Thursday cancelled a public inquiry on allegation of live bullets were used in the Sept 8 illegal assembly in Batu Buruk.

The three-member inquiry panel chairman Datuk Muhammad Shafee Abdullah said the inquiry had to be called off despite Suhakam making preparations for the hearing because two people who participated in the opposition-organised assembly have been charged in the Sessions Court here with attempting to cause hurt to policemen sent to break up the illegal assembly.
Muhammad Shafee, a prominent lawyer, said evidence adduced in court later would also be on the firing of gunshots and the use of live bullets.
“Provisions under Section 12(2) and (3) of the Suhakam Act 1999 (Act 597) states that the commission cannot investigate any complaint of human rights violations which have not been settled in court,” he told a media conference, also attended by panel members Tan Sri Asiah Abu Samah and Prof Emeritus Datuk Dr Khoo Kay Kim.
More than 20 witnesses, including policemen and the public, are to testify in the inquiry fixed for four days beginning today.