Political activist, Hishamuddin Rais claimed he had been barred from leaving the country on Thursday night as he was leaving from the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) .

He said the Immigration Department had stopped him from boarding the Malaysia Airlines (MH 0066) which was heading towards Incheon, South of Korea.

“My question to the Malaysian government is why have I been barred?

“This question should be targeted to those who barred not to me who is barred,” said Hishamuddin in a statement on Friday.

He said he received an invitation from the People Solidarity of Participatory Democracy (PSPD), a North Korean non-governmental organisation (NGO) to be an observer during the People’s Assembly on December 5.

“Apart from being an observer on December 7 and 8 we were also scheduled to meet with the Korean National Police Agency.

“A letter had been delivered to Commissioner General Kang Sin-Myeong for the meeting,” said Hishamuddin.

He added a meeting had also been set to allow the observers to meet with Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission of Korea, Lee Sung-ho.

Hishamuddin is part of the BERSIH 2.0 activist who had once been arrested under the International Security Act (ISA) during the administration of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad together with several Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR).

Meanwhile, Home Minister Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamad when contacted by Astro AWANI on Friday said the ban on Hishamuddin was not politically based.

He added that government offices including the Immigration Department has the rights to bar any individual from leaving the country based on the law.

“This ban is not connected to politics. The government department has the rights to ban anyone from leaving the country based on the current laws.Each ban should have its reason,” said Nur Jazlan.