Prosecutors charged Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim and two of his allies yesterday with breaking various laws during a massive street rally to demand electoral fairness.
The charges could distract Anwar from preparing for national elections that many speculate will be held by September.
The three men were charged in a Kuala Lumpur court with defying a court ban against assembling at a public square in Kuala Lumpur last month and inciting other demonstrators to breach a police barricade.
Photo: EPA
They pleaded not guilty and face a maximum jail sentence of six months, as well as fines totaling 12,000 ringgit (US$3,852), if convicted. The court scheduled a preliminary hearing on July 2 to determine further trial dates.
“It is clearly a politically motivated charge. Elections are around the corner,” Anwar said.
The Malaysian prime minister’s office rejected Anwar’s claims of a political plot, saying in a statement that the charges were based on police investigations. The office said that two policemen and other people were charged previously in connection with violence during the rally.
The charges are the first against Anwar after he was acquitted in January of sodomizing a male former aide. The government has denied Anwar’s claims that the sodomy trial was engineered to undercut an opposition alliance that made unprecedented inroads in 2008 elections.
Two others charged were Azmin Ali, the deputy president of Anwar’s opposition People’s Justice Party, and party youth official Baharul Hisham Shaharin.
They were among tens of thousands of Malaysians who joined a rally on April 28 calling for an overhaul in electoral policies. Police used tear gas and water cannons against demonstrators, after some of them breached a barrier at a public square that had been declared off-limits.
Human Rights Watch deputy Asia director Phil Robertson said the charges against the opposition leaders “don’t inspire confidence that the Malaysian government is committed to protecting basic free expression rights.”
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak and other officials have accused the opposition of trying to create chaos at the rally, which was organized by opposition-backed civic groups. Some people claimed Anwar and Azmin goaded peaceful demonstrators into charging at police.
If Anwar and Azmin are fined the maximum amount, they also risk losing their seats in parliament.
National polls are not due until next year, but speculation has been rife that Najib will dissolve parliament soon. Najib’s coalition, which has led Malaysia since 1957, has slightly less than a two-thirds parliamentary majority after it suffered its worst electoral performance ever in 2008.
The rally’s organizers had demanded the resignation of election commission officials, claiming they are biased.
Demonstrators also wanted a cleanup of voter registration lists allegedly tainted with fraudulent names and rules to ensure all parties get access to mainstream media.
Government officials insist the activists’ concerns are overblown. The election commission last week said it hopes to help ease the criticism by potentially securing voting rights for 1 million Malaysians living overseas and inviting international observers for the elections.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese