Freed Malaysian blogger says arrest politically motivated

Agence France-Presse - 9/21/2008 7:45 AM GMT

A Malaysian blogger arrested for displaying the national flag upside down on his site said Sunday his detention was politically motivated and challenged the government to charge him.

Syed Azidi Syed Aziz, who writes the popular "Kickdefella" blog, was released on a month's bail on Saturday. He had spent three days in prison after police arrested him under the Sedition Act.

"I am hoping that they will charge me. Then I can ask the prime minister to be a witness because it was his statement, saying that what I did was evil and malicious, which compelled the police to investigate me," he told AFP.

Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi ordered police to investigate Syed Azidi after he launched a campaign to fly the Malaysian flag upside down in protest against the country's political and economic turmoil.

"I do not think the police are serious about going all out in their investigating paper to charge me," said the blogger, known for his links to the opposition conservative Islamic PAS party.

"The whole scenario was politically motivated.

"They want to break me and they want to send a stern warning out to other bloggers," he added.

The award-winning screenwriter and film director was the second blogger to be arrested in Malaysia over website content.

Prominent blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin, who has targeted government figures, was arrested last Friday under the tough Internal Security Act (ISA).

Raja Petra, founder of the controversial Malaysia Today website, has already been charged with sedition and defamation after linking Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak and his wife to the sensational murder of a Mongolian woman.

Rights groups say about 63 people are being held under the ISA, which allows for renewable two-year periods of detention without trial and is normally used against suspected terrorists.

An opposition member of parliament and a journalist were detained under the act earlier this month but have since been released.

Their arrests prompted a cabinet minister in charge of law, Zaid Ibrahim, to resign last week in disgust.

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