KUALA LUMPUR, September 12, 2008 (AFP) - Prominent Malaysian blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin, who has targeted government figures on his website, was arrested Friday under internal security laws, his wife said.
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.
The blogger's wife Marina Lee Abdullah said he was arrested by police at his home under legislation that allows for detention without trial.
"They came here and arrested him under the Internal Security Act for inciting hate in his articles on Islam," she told AFP.
The Internal Security Act, which human rights groups have pushed to have abolished, provides for renewable two-year periods of detention without trial and is normally used against suspected terrorists.
It has also been used to lock up opponents of the government, and last year five Hindu rights activists were detained after mounting an anti-discrimination protest that targeted government race policies.
AFP
MSN Malaysia reports: Home Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar was quoted by The Star website stating that Raja Petra had been detained under Section 73 (1) of the ISA as he had been deemed a threat to security, peace and public order. He said that under the section Petra would be held for 60 days.
“The police will do an assessment during this period and if they feel he should be held more than 60 days, the police will then refer to me,” he said.
Petra's arrest comes a day after the Cabinet ordered the Multimedia and Communications Commission (MCMC) to reinstate access to all blocked websites, of which Malaysia Today was one.
The star also reported Energy, Water and Communications Minister Datuk Shaziman Abu Mansor as saying, “Instead of blocking access to offensive websites, the Cabinet wants authorities to investigate and act quickly against the owners of these sites."
The minister also added that the government was asking the MCMC to "closely cooperate" with the authorities in monitoring any website or blog to ensure that it does not contain "seditious, racist or religiously insensitive remarks."
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