KUALA LUMPUR: A Malaysian court yesterday sentenced a student activist to 10 months in jail for sedition, sparking renewed calls from rights groups to repeal a colonial-era legislation increasingly used by the government to stifle dissent.
The guilty verdict against Safwan Anang, 24, follows a recent wave of charges under the Sedition Act, including three opposition legislators in the past two weeks and a respected university lecturer.
Rights group Amnesty International called on the Southeast Asian nation to end its “alarming use” of the law, while dozens of students staged a protest yesterday to urge Prime Minister Najib Razak to honour his 2012 pledge to repeal the act.
Najib said yesterday that the government would continue to use the act until a more fine-tuned law to curb hate speech could be passed.
The new legislation is expected to be ready by end of 2015. Earlier yesterday, a Kuala Lumpur district court sentenced activist Safwan to 10 months in jail. The court allowed him to remain free pending appeal.
Safwan was found guilty of sedition -- which carries a maximum of three years in jail -- for a speech that allegedly encouraged people to topple the government after divisive polls in May last year. Najib’s coalition, which has ruled the country since independence in 1957, lost the popular vote last year but managed to retain control of parliament through what critics described as gerrymandering.
More than 110 NGOs formed a coalition to urge the government to repeal the act and drop all charges.
Amnesty International said at least 15 people had been charged or investigated under the Sedition Act this year, accusing the government of “fostering a climate of repression”.
AFP
