Raja Petra charged with sedition
May 6, 08 10:40am
Malaysia Today news portal webmaster Raja Petra Kamaruddin was today charged with sedition at the Petaling Jaya Sessions Court over an article which he wrote in his website, allegedly implying that Deputy Prime Minister Najib was involved in the killing of a young Mongolian woman.
The popular blogger was charged under Section 4(1)(c) of the Sedition Act for publishing seditious article on April 25 on Malaysia Today.
If found guilty, Raja Petra could be jailed for a maximum of three years and/or face a fine of up to RM5,000.
The charge sheet also highlighted nine paragraphs of the article as seditious.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Nordin Hassan is prosecuting while Raja Petra was represented by a team of six lawyers led by Karpal Singh.
Earlier this morning Raja Petra was asked to present himself at the Petaling Jaya Sessions Court to face the sedition charge.
He had been waiting to be charged at the Kuala Lumpur Magistrate’s Court when he received a telephone call from the police at about 10.20am asking him to go to the PJ court instead.
Late yesterday the popular webmaster was ordered to surrender at the Jalan Duta court complex at 9.30am this morning to face a sedition charge.
Talking to reporters at the Jalan Duta court complex this morning, Raja Petra said that he was a victim of political persecution.
“I knew this was coming. They are going to find ways and excuses to charge me but these are stupid excuses,” he said.
“Once they charge me, we will show that there is no evidence against me,” he added.
He said that he was aware of a call made by an Umno leader from Petaling Jaya (Utara) about three weeks ago that “they should find ways to arrest me”.
News about Raja Petra’s case spread like a wild fire last night and this morning a large crowd had gathered at the court complex to show support for him.
Also present were DAP leaders Lim Kit Siang and Ronnie Liu as well as Lembah Pantai MP Nurul Izzah Anwar.
Last Friday, Raja Petra was called in by the police to have his statement recorded over an Internet posting two weeks ago pertaining to the murder case of Altantuya Shaariibuu, a Mongolian national.
On April 25, Raja Petra posted an article titled ‘Let’s send the Altantuya murderers to hell’ on his blog, Malaysia Today. The posting implicated Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak and his wife Rosmah Mansor in the high-profile case.
Najib subsequently issued a denial through his press secretary Tengku Sariffuddin Tengku Ahmad, whereas Rosmah has also denied the allegations against her.
The Altantunya murder trial is currently ongoing at the Shah Alam.
[Full report to follow]
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