Harakah editor-in-chief Zulkifli Sulong was summoned to give his statement at a police station today in relation to two articles which were published in 1999 in the PAS party organ.

When contacted by malaysiakini , Zulkifli said his lawyer accompanied him to the Sentul police station early this afternoon and met with a police officer, adding that it was the second time he gave statements regarding the same writings since the beginning of this year.

"The session lasted for about half an hour. They wanted me to produce the unedited articles and the tape recordings for one interview but I could not produce them," he said.

"It was just impossible, we recycle our tapes and diskettes (containing the articles) every few months and it has been so long since we carried them in our paper," he added.

The two articles, entitled ' Mengapa Saya Kembali ke Tanah Air - Ezam ' (Why I returned to our motherland - Ezam) and ' PM Lindungi Kroninya ' (PM protects his cronies) were published in Harakah in March and May 1999 respectively.

It was learnt that in the first said article, Keadilan Youth chief Mohamad Ezam Mohd Nor commented on the then ongoing corruption trial of sacked deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim, during an interview with a Harakah journalist.

The other article was based on a joint press statement signed by Barisan Alternatif (BA) leaders - PAS president Fadzil Mohd Noor, Keadilan president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, PRM president Dr Syed Husin Ali and DAP national chairperson Lim Kit Siang.

Zulkifli was charged under the Sedition Act in January last year for another article published in Harakah back in 1999 based on a statement by Keadilan deputy president Dr Chandra Muzafar alleging that there was a conspiracy between judiciary and the national leaders at the time.

The ongoing trial will resume on June 19 at Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court.

Straightforward pieces

Harakah was reduced from a bi-weekly publication to a fortnightly in March last year on orders of the Home Affairs Ministry. Several other publications were banned, including Eksklusif and Detik which were known for being critical of the government.

According to Zulkifli, when he met with police for the first time early this year, he was requested to reveal the sources of his news and on what basis the articles were written.

"I told them one was based on an interview and the other a press statement by BA leaders, which was the case. Those were pretty straightforward pieces," he said.

He added that the police have yet to reveal whether he will be charged in court for the articles and if so, what are the charges against him.