Two Malaysians on trial for sedition

Two Malaysians on trial for sedition

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): Two leading Malaysian opposition figures went on trial Monday under a widely criticized sedition law and face up to three years' in jail if convicted.

Zulkifli Sulong, editor of Harakah newspaper, denied a charge of sedition over an article which alleged that Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad had conspired against his jailed former deputy Anwar Ibrahim.

But co-defendant Chea Lim Thye, printer of the newspaper of the opposition Parti Islam SeMalaysia, admitted the offense and was fined 4,000 ringgit (US$1,053) by a Kuala Lumpur court.

Marina Yusoff, vice-president of the National Justice Party (Keadilan) founded by Anwar's wife, went on trial separately on Monday in the northern state of Penang.

She is charged for making a speech she made last September, which reportedly accused ruling party leaders of provoking bloody race riots in 1969.