Fifty-four lawyers have appealed to the Bar Council to convene an emergency extraordinary general meeting (EGM) to discuss the sedition charge against lawyer and former DAP MP Karpal Singh.

"The unprecedented arrest of Karpal for statements made in court has raised grave concerns which affect all and every advocate and solicitor in the legal profession," said lawyer P. Uthayakumar who initiated the appeal through a letter signed by 53 other lawyers at the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court this morning.

The lawyers were outside the court where Karpal was charged for sedition today. Karpal was arrested for his remarks made in court that "people in high places" were behind an alleged attempt to poison sacked deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim with arsenic last September.

Under the Sedition Act, a person deemed to "bring into hatred or contempt or to excite disaffection against any ruler or against any government" can be fined RM5,000, or sentenced to a three-year jail term or both on conviction for a first offence, and a five-year jail term for subsequent offence.

There appeared a strong response from the lawyers to Uthayakumar's initiative for an emergency Bar Council EGM, where the required signatures were collected within 30 minutes. Under Bar Council rules, an appeal for an EGM must be signed by at least 50 members before action can be taken.

Uthayakumar said that the charges against Karpal were against the spirit of the Legal Profession Act 1976 (Section 42) which empowers lawyers to act without fear or favour and with absolute immunity from being prosecuted or sued when carrying out their duties in a court of law.

"We urge the Bar Council to propose appropriate resolutions to be adopted at the said EGM on an urgent basis pursuant to the above act," Uthaya added. The letter was delivered by hand to the secretary of the Bar Council this afternoon.

Meanwhile, Hong Kong-based Asian Human Rights Commission today urged the Bar Council to develop an appropriate and comprehensive response to the issue of Karpal's arrest.

"To delay a response will be to compromise with a gross act of barbarism," it said in an email to malaysiakini .

AHRC added that the charges against Karpal by the government made a mockery of the legal profession. "The filing of charges of sedition against a lawyer for comments made in court while defending a client constitute a barbarous attack on the legal profession and the due process of law," AHRC said.

In addition, DAP chairman Lim Kit Siang had today expressed "sadness and surprise" that the Bar Council and local press bodies were taking a very supine attitude towards the arrests of Karpal and four other opposition figures.

"I call on them to come forward to boldly defend the rule of law, press freedom, the right to information, fundamental liberties and democracy from being trampled," Lim said.

"They should be in the vanguard in the defense of these fundamental liberties and not take a backseat while their international counterparts are doing all the defense of these rights," he urged.