U.S., Canada criticize KL for jailing reporter

U.S., Canada criticize KL for jailing reporter

KUALA LUMPUR (Agencies): The United States and Canada criticized Malaysia on Monday for imprisoning a foreign journalist, but Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad brushed aside the objections and accused the West of trampling on human rights.

The White House said U.S. President Bill Clinton was "deeply concerned" about the jailing of Canadian journalist Murray Hiebert for contempt of court.

"Putting a journalist in jail for doing his job undermines the press freedoms that play such a critical role in building a democratic society," the White House said in a statement released in New Zealand where Clinton was attending an Asia-Pacific summit.

Hiebert, Malaysia bureau chief for the Hong Kong-based Far Eastern Economic Review, was taken to prison on Saturday after the Court of Appeal upheld an earlier conviction for contempt of court.

He was convicted of contempt over an article printed in January 1997 which the plaintiff, the wife of a Court of Appeal judge, said amounted to an attack on the judiciary.

Hiebert was the first journalist to be sent to jail in Malaysia in the line of duty and the first journalist to be jailed for contempt in a Commonwealth country in nearly 50 years.

"The decision of the Malaysian courts is outrageous," Canadian Foreign Minister Lloyd Axworthy said on Monday at the New Zealand regional summit.

A diplomat at the Canadian High Commission (embassy) in Kuala Lumpur quoted Axworthy as saying Canada would be "looking very seriously about what kind of action we can take".

The U.S.-based Committee to Protect Journalists said: "Sending Murray Hiebert to jail is an outrage."

Malaysia has been the target of stinging international criticism for court decisions which critics say call into question the protection of civil liberties.

The sentencing of former finance minister Anwar Ibrahim in April to six years in jail for corruption spurred international censure.

In a speech to more than 1,400 jurists from Commonwealth nations meeting outside Kuala Lumpur, the head of the Malaysian Bar, R.R. Chelvarajah, said on Monday that Malaysian courts had drawn criticism in a number of recent cases.

"These comments should not be brushed aside," he said.

But minutes later, Mahathir climbed the same podium to defend Malaysia's judiciary and launch a verbal attack on the Western media, the World Trade Organization, currency traders, the Internet, human rights groups and the United Nations.

Mahathir also criticized the permanent members of the UN Security Council on Monday as "blatantly feudal and undemocratic."

"It is ridiculous that this important world body is still tethered to the results of the world war fought 50 years ago," Mahathir said.

The 73-year-old leader lashed out at the council members -- the United States, Britain, France, China and Russia, saying their unwillingness to give up veto power made reform difficult.

"This undemocratic power may sit well with China and Russia but the other three countries preach democracy ad nauseum," said Mahathir, who has led Malaysia for 18 years.

"It does not become them to be blatantly feudal and undemocratic in the United Nations when they so vehemently insist that every country must be democratic."