KL oppoition warns of protests after arrests

KL oppoition warns of protests after arrests

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters): Two prominent supporters of Malaysia's jailed former finance minister Anwar Ibrahim and his lawyer were indicted on Friday in a crackdown that drew an opposition threat to mount public protests.

Lawyer Karpal Singh and Marina Yusoff, vice president of the opposition Parti Keadilan Nasional, were charged with making seditious remarks.

Mohamed Ezam Mohamed Nor, Anwar's former top political aide and youth leader of the Keadilan run by Anwar's wife, was arraigned for violating the Official Secrets Acts.

Prosecutors said Karpal and Marina could be jailed for up to three years and fined a maximum of 5,000 ringgit ($1,315). If convicted, Ezam faced a minimum jail sentence of one year and a maximum of seven.

All three pleaded not guilty in separate Sessions Courts.

Their supporters shouted reformasi (reform), the rallying cry of Anwar's supporters, as they left the court houses on bail.

Keadilan, which helped to unite a splintered opposition after Anwar's ouster from the government in September 1998, demanded an end to the crackdown.

Anwar was instrumental in gains scored by the Barisan Alternative (BA) alliance of opposition parties in the Malay heartland of the country in November general elections.

"The BA will not to tolerate our leaders being victimized as the scapegoat of the ruling parties' internal problems," Tian Chua, another Keadilan vice president, said in a statement.

"We call upon all people to act in their individual and collective capacity, to protest such injustice and inhumanity."

Anwar's sacking and subsequent arrest and indictment on sex and corruption charges led to unprecedented street protests against Malaysia's prime minister of 18 years, Mahathir Mohamad.

Keadilan threatened to launch a nationwide movement against the arrests. "If the situation worsens in the next few days, we will call for an emergency meeting among reformasi activists to discuss the launching of a nationwide mass mobilization to defend our rights," Tian Chua said.

Karpal, Ezam and Marina were among five people arrested this week in a move against opposition politicians and the Parti Islam se-Malaysia's newspaper, Harakah.

Harakah editor Zulkifli Sulong and its printer, Chia Lim Thye, pleaded not guilty to sedition charges on Thursday.

The arrests have been denounced by opposition parties, human rights groups and press watchdog organizations. "There is no doubt that these arrests are politically motivated," Syed Husin Ali, president of the opposition Parti Rakyat Malaysia, said in a statement on Friday. He expressed concern over "the slow but steady drift of this country towards an absolutely authoritarian state".

Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who is in charge of the government while Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad is in Argentina on a two-week holiday, and police have denied there was a large-scale sweep against the opposition.

Opposition politicians said the fact that only critics of the government had been arrested and that they had been detained within a day of each other pointed to a coordinated operation.

Karpal was charged with accusing "people of high places" of trying to poison Anwar while defending him at his sex trial.

Marina was said to have accused the United Malays National Organization, Mahathir's political party, in a September speech of triggering race riots in 1969.

Mohamed Ezam was indicted for releasing classified documents of the Anti Corruption Agency to reporters at a news conference. Anwar has repeatedly accused cabinet members of corruption.