Malaysian blogger on trial for alleged sedition

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - The editor of Malaysia's best-known anti-government news Web site went on trial Monday on sedition charges for allegedly implying the deputy prime minister was involved in the murder of a Mongolian woman.

Raja Petra Raja Kamaruddin, who denies the accusation, is already in jail in a separate case under the Internal Security Act, a law that allows indefinite detention without trial.

The two cases against Raja Petra, 58, who runs the popular Malaysia Today news site, have provoked an outcry against the government, with detractors accusing it of misusing the judiciary to crack down on critics and suppress freedom of speech.

"They are penalizing him twice. ... It's double jeopardy. But his spirits are up," Raja Petra's wife, Marina, said at a district court where the frail-looking activist, unshaved and wearing flip-flops, was brought in handcuffs for the trial.

If convicted, Raja Petra faces up to three years in jail.

The sedition charge stems from an April 25 article titled "Let's Send the Altantuya Murderers to Hell" that Raja Petra posted on his Web site. It allegedly implied that Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak and his wife, Rosmah Mansor, were involved in the 2006 killing in Malaysia of Altantuya Shaariibuu, a 28-year-old Mongolian interpreter. Both have denied involvement.

Two policemen have been accused of killing her and destroying her body with explosives in a jungle clearing. Abdul Razak Baginda, a close associate of Najib, is charged with abetting the murder. The trial of the three men is under way.

The prosecution contends that Abdul Razak had the woman killed because she pestered him for money after he ended an affair.

Four months after Raja Petra was charged with sedition, he was arrested on Sept. 12 under the Internal Security Act for publishing articles that the government says created racial tension in the multiethnic nation.

Some of Malaysia's most popular blogs offer strong anti-government commentaries and present themselves as a substitute for mainstream media, which are controlled by political parties or are closely linked to them.

The government estimates there are more than 700 Malaysians who blog on social and political issues.