PAS central committee member Mohamad Sabu and nine others have been freed of a charge of obstructing public order at the Bukit Tambun exit of the North-South highway, on Dec 9, 2007.

NONE They had also been charged with pushing the police and refusing to open their car doors.

Discharging them today, the Jawi Magistrate’s Court ruled that there was a contradiction between the statements of the police and witnesses.

Magistrate Mohd Izham Ali gave three reasons for his decision, one of which was doubts over the validity of the warrant of arrest.

The two prosecution witnesses contradicted each other in their testimonies, and there was no specific information relating to the claim tha the accused had pushed a police officer, he added.

They were charged under Section 186, read with Section 34, of the Penal Code. If found guilty, the 10 could have been jailed for two years and/or fined RM10,000.

Met outside the courtroom, a relieved Mat Sabu (above) said the group had been worried about the charge as it was a serious one.

“Since the general election is near, I was worried that this would become a political issue,” he said.

The nine charged with Mohamad were Mohd Binyamin Ishak, 48, Fuadzi Suharat, 48, Md  Lazim Osman, 54, Abdul Razak Ramili, 46, Mohd Subri Mohd Said, 46, Zamarul 'Aini Abdul  Malik, 40, Zainul Azrun Zainal Abidin, 39, Abdul Rahim Mat Ariff, 62, and Mohamad Salleh, 51.

Mohamed, 55, and the others were accused of committing the offence at 7.45pm on Dec 9 2007 in front of the Bukit Tambun toll plaza (at the exit of the Kuala Lumpur-Penang highway).

NONE Suhaimi Ibrahim, assisted by Khairul Fairuz Rahman and Ahmad Razali Muhamad Nazri led the prosecution team, while the ten accused were represented by Hanipa Maidin, Aminuddin Zulkifli andYusnita Yusof.

Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng ( above, in yellow ), who is DAP secretary-general, was at the court to lend moral support.

Speaking to reporters outside the court house, Lim reminded Mohammed Sabu and his supporters that while “victory is sweet... the challenges ahead are many, especially when the general election is around the corner”.

He said he was happy with the court decision today because he felt that Mohammed could not be guilty as he was experienced in politics.

He encouraged opposition supporters to continue to struggle for justice, freedom and free elections.

On the impending general elections, Lim said it was not wrong for the people to either vote for BN or Pakatan.