Malaysian MPs to debate tough antiterrorism laws

Malaysian MPs to debate tough antiterrorism laws

Associated Press, Kuala Lumpur

Malaysia has introduced tough antiterrorism legislation that would result in the death penalty or long prison sentences for those convicted of supporting terrorist acts.

The amendments to the penal code, introduced in Parliament for a first reading on Tuesday, aims to punish not just the perpetrators of terror crimes but also those who recruit and harbor them and aid them financially.

A debate by lawmakers was scheduled for early November, parliamentary officials said on Wednesday. The bill would be passed as law some time later.

The bill stipulates that lawyers and accountants who provide financial services or facilities, or act as agents or nominees for terrorist groups, could face the death penalty if a terror act results in deaths.

Anyone who harbors a terrorist -- defined in the bill as supplying food, shelter, money, arms, ammunition or transport -- or prevents or interferes with the arrest of a known terror suspect could face life imprisonment.

Terrorists whose actions lead to death will face capital punishment -- normally by hanging in Malaysia -- or a maximum prison term of 30 years.

Those providing explosives or lethal devices, inciting acts of terror or providing facilities in support of such acts also face a 30-year term.

Malaysia has relied largely on using the Internal Security Act, which provides for indefinite detention without trial, to combat terrorism and is currently holding more than 70 suspected militants at a prison camp.

Most of the suspects are accused of involvement with Jamaah Islamiyah (JI), a Southeast Asian ally of Osama bin Laden's al- Qaeda group.

JI is blamed for the bombings on the Indonesian resort island of Bali last October, at the JW Marriott Hotel in Jakarta last month, and several other bombings in the region in recent years.

The U.S. government earlier this week froze the financial assets of 10 Malaysians considered "global terrorists," some of whom are allegedly key members in Jamaah Islamiyah.

On Wednesday, Malaysia denied reports that a top JI explosives expert was hiding in the country and said the fugitive was still believed to be in Indonesia.

Malaysian officials disputed a statement by Gen. Da'i Bachtiar, Indonesia's police chief, that Azahari Husin, a 46-year-old Malaysian linked to last month's attack at the JW Marriott Hotel in Jakarta, may have slipped back into Malaysia.

"Our intelligence shows he is not in Malaysia," a senior official, speaking on customary condition of anonymity, told The Associated Press. "Azahari has no operational interest in Malaysia as the JI network has been effectively crippled."

The official said Azahari, who fled Malaysia in 2001 as authorities were hunting for him, was believed to hiding on the Indonesian island of Sumatra as "he has contacts there and can easily mix with the local residents to escape detection."

Azahari disappeared from his home in southern Malaysia in late 2001, just before authorities launched a sweep against suspects believed to be involved in an al-Qaeda-linked plot to bomb the U.S., British, Australian, Israeli embassies and other Western targets in neighboring Singapore.

Police nabbed scores of suspects in December 2001 and subsequent raids, but missed two key figures -- Azahari and Riduan Isamuddin, better known as Hambali, a top man in Jamaah Islamiyah and also the al-Qaeda point man in Southeast Asia.

Hambali was arrested Aug. 11 in central Thailand in an operation by Thai authorities and the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. He is currently under U.S. custody at an undisclosed location.