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Friday, June 11, 2010 4:03 PM

Karpal acquitted on sedition charge
Malaysiakini
Christine Chan
Jun 11, 10

3:35pm Veteran opposition lawmaker Karpal Singh was today acquitted by the Kuala Lumpur High Court on a charge of sedition against the Perak sultan, after the prosecution failed to prove a prima facie case against him.

He was freed without his defence being called.

Karpal (right) was charged with sedition on the contents of his Feb 6, 2009, press conference, during which he said legal action could be instituted against the Perak sultan over his role in the state constitutional crisis earlier that year.

He was charged under section 4(1) (b) of the Sedition Act 1948, which carries a maximum fine of RM5,000 or a jail term of three years, or both, if found guilty.

Karpal on March 17 last year claimed trial to a charge of uttering seditious words at his office, Tetuan Karpal Singh & Co on Jalan Pudu Lama, KL, between noon and 12.30pm on Feb 6.

In his judgment, recently promoted judge Azman Abdullah said Karpal’s action did not amount to sedition as it fell under an exception provided by law.

“After scrutinising the statements to the press, I find that they fall within the exception in Section 3(2)(a) of the Sedition Act 1948,” judge Azman said.

The section states that it is not seditious to “show that any Ruler has been misled or mistaken, nor is it seditious to point out errors or defects in the government or constitution as established by the law”.

The judge said the prosecution had failed to prove the ingredient provided in section 3(1) of the Act that leads to the tendency to incite or to incite hate and disloyalty against a Ruler.

Judge Azman also brought up a few incidents from the press conference to illustrate how Karpal’s action clearly fell under the exception rule. Two instances were:

“In a video of the press conference, the accused said ‘But I’ll make it very clear, I got nothing personal in this matter, this is a constitutional matter’.

“Few provocative questions were asked of the accused but in his answers, he did not take the opportunity to blow up the issue.”

Representing Karpal were Jagdeep Singh, Param Cumaraswamy, Gobind Singh Deo, Teoh Lip Eng, Sangeet Kaur, M Manoharan, Ram Karpal and Ponmugan Ponnan.

The prosecutors comprised Noorin Badaruddin and Melissa Mohd Akhir while Rajpal Singh held the watching brief for the Bar Council.

Outside the court, the jubilant DAP national chairman was all smiles, thanking his lawyers and reminding all present that he had always maintained his innocence.

“What I have said is in accordance with the law. I have always maintained it, nothing untoward or illegal in what I had said,” the Bukit Gelugor MP told reporters.

Asked if he had expected to be acquitted, he replied that he had always thought there was nothing wrong with what he had said.

“Justice has prevailed” he added, after his wife Gurmit Kaur presented him with a colourful garland.

He said the fact that he had been cleared showed that there was some truth in his statements.

“The message is quite clear, a Ruler can be taken to court, that what I said is in line with the constitution,” he added.

Asked if he was going to celebrate, he laughed and said that there had been lots of calls for it.

“Of course, we must heed those calls,” he said, smiling broadly.

His son Jagdeep chipped in, saying the court decision was indeed a fine present for his father’s 70th birthday, which falls on the 28th of this month.

A total of 19 witnesses had testified in the trial, among them RTM television news deputy director Roslan Ariffin, Malaysiakini journalist Lee Way Loon and Utusan Malaysia reporter Nizam Mohd Yatim.