Jailed Malaysian blogger posts bail, ends hunger strike, says wife

A controversial Malaysian blogger on Thursday posted bail, ending a two-day hunger strike in jail after being charged over an article he wrote linking the Deputy Prime Minister to a gruesome murder, his wife said.

Raja Petra Kamaruddin, founder and editor of the popular Malaysia Today website, was charged with sedition for implicating Najib Razak and his wife in the October 2006 murder of a Mongolian woman.

"I have just posted bail for him and he will be brought in to the court on Friday morning for some procedures before he is released," wife Marina Lee Abdullah told AFP.
"He has also stopped his hunger strike," she added.

The defiant 57-year-old Raja Petra refused to post bail set at 5,000 ringgit (1,600 dollars) since being charged on Tuesday, saying he did not have the money.

He opted instead to be locked up until his trial begins on October 6.

But Marina said his poor health meant he could not continue with the strike.

She said funds amounting to almost 50,000 ringgit from well-wishers, bloggers and close friends flooded in for Raja Petra to post the bail.

She plans use the extra money to start a fund helping other bloggers "who get into trouble with the law the next time."

If convicted under the Sedition Act, Raja Petra faces a three-year jail term or a fine of up to 5,000 ringgit.

Najib, who is expected to take over from Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi as the country's next premier, has denied the charge against Raja Petra was politically motivated, the News Straits Times reported Thursday.

"The government has always taken a very liberal stand with bloggers and the Internet. But there are laws in this country related to sedition and defamation.

"Just because you operate from cyberspace, it does not absolve you from having those laws applied to you," he said, according to the newspaper.

Analyst Abdul Razak Baginda, who has links with Najib and top government leaders, has been charged with abetting the killing of 28-year-old Altantuya Shaariibuu, whose body was blown up with explosives.

Two police officers from an elite force, whose duties included guarding the prime minister and Najib, were charged with the killing.


Agence France-Presse - 5/8/2008 10:27 AM GMT