Five pro-Palestine activists were summoned to the Sentul district police headquarters to give statements for demonstrating against an exhibition featuring US defence contractors earlier this month.

Lawyer Rajesh Nagarajan said the five, who were individually represented, were questioned this afternoon for about 90 minutes.

“All five stated that they would answer any charges brought against them in court,” he told FMT, adding that they were being investigated under the Peaceful Assembly Act.

Rajesh, who represented Jason S Ganesan, a freelance editor, said the five were summoned last week.

Earlier, Malaysiakini reported that the five, who are members of the Sekretariat Solidariti Palestin (SSP), were called up after gathering at the Defence Services Asia (DSA) and National Security (Natsec) Asia programme, which was held from May 7-9.

SSP had previously hit out at the presence of major US defence contractors, such as Lockheed Martin, at the three-day defence and security exhibition for providing arms to Israel which it said was engaged “in acts of genocide and brutal killings against the Palestinian people”.

Defence minister Khaled Nordin later defended the involvement of such companies, saying Putrajaya did not intervene in matters involving international companies.