The Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court today slapped a RM5,000 fine o­n Harakah editor Zulkifli Sulong for publishing a seditious article four years ago regarding the trial of ex-deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim.

Sessions judge Rosenani Abdul Rahman imposed the fine stating it was an appropriate sentence after considering the facts of the case and the mitigation forwarded by the defendant's lawyer Zamani Ibrahim.

In delivering her summary judgment earlier, Rosenani ruled that the court was satisfied that the article published by the organ of opposition party PAS o­n Aug 2, 1999 had a "seditious tendency".

"The court is also satisfied that the accused was responsible for publishing the article and thereby finds him guilty as charged," said the judge.

The charge was under section 4(1)(c) of the Sedition Act 1948 which carries the maximum penalty of RM5,000 fine and/or three years imprisonment.

Zulkifli was initially jointly charged with printer Chia Lim Thye, who had since pleaded guilty in May 2000 and was subsequently fined RM4,000.

Conspiracy theory

The article referred to in the charge was written in Malay and titled ' Liputan Pengakuan Sukma hina dan jahat - Dr Chandra ' (Coverage of Sukma's confession humiliating and in bad faith).

The article, quoting prominent academic and then Keadilan deputy president Dr Chandra Muzaffar ( photo ), alleged that the police, the Attorney-General's chambers, the court and the media were willing to be used by Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad and his cohorts to conspire against jailed ex-deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim.

Sukma Darmawan Sasmitaat Madja was Anwar's co-accused in a sodomy case where both were convicted and jailed by the High Court. The decision was recently upheld by the Court of Appeal. The duo are appealing to the Federal Court.

Chandra had also faced a contempt charge for the article, but the case was subsequently dismissed by the Kuala Lumpur High Court.

Meanwhile in today's proceeding, Rosenani stunned the court when she said that she was a imposing a jail sentence o­n the Harakah editor.

However, she quickly corrected the slip-up, explaining much to the relief of the defendant's friends and family that she was merely imposing a fine.

Negative impact

Zulkifli later settled the fine and told reporters that he accepted and respected the decision. He was also thankful for not being slapped with a jail term.

However, he said the conviction - which came a day before the World Press Freedom Day - would have a negative impact o­n press freedom in the country.

"I was doing my job as a pressman, that's all. I did not say the seditious content but merely reported it," he said when met outside the court.

Earlier in mitigation, his counsel Zamani urged the court to impose a non-custodial sentence saying that the editor was merely reporting o­n the o­n-going situation - Anwar's trials - at that time.

The lawyer said his client had merely carried out his responsibility as an editor, a post which he held since 1986, of a paper which represents the opposition party in a democratic country.

"This is related to the struggle for press freedom which is to tell the public o­n the o­n-going situation then. This is a duty of the press," he said.

However, deputy public prosecutor Shahrizal Shaari urged the court to consider jailing Zulkifli for the offence which he described as "very serious to the public and country".

"We feel that an imprisonment sentence would be appropriate for this case as the interest of the public and the nation should be the court's first priority," he said.