Sarawak police are now in the final stage of their investigation into the publication of offensive caricatures on Prophet Muhammad by the Sarawak Tribune on Feb 4.

According to a Bernam a report, state acting CID Chief Abdul Samah Mat said today the investigation which started on Feb 9 was nearly completed after gathering evidence from 11 witnesses including several top management and the editorial team of Sarawak Press Sdn Bhd.

"We are at the final stage. We will wind up the investigation soon. The report will be sent to the Attorney-General (AG)," he added.

On Feb 4, Sarawak Tribune reproduced Prophet Muhammad's caricatures which were originally published in a Danish newspaper and sparked anger among Muslims across the world.

Five days later, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who is also internal security minister, suspended the publication licence of Sarawak Tribune , owned and printed by Sarawak Press Sdn Bhd.

More witnesses

Abdul Samad said police might call several more witnesses to assist in the investigation.

On the number of witnesses to be called, he said: It depends on the development and evidence gathered in the past few days."

"If necessary, police would call them (witnesses) in the next few days. On who will be called, that we can't say. Just wait, let us (police) conduct our investigation first," he said.

On Feb 9, police began their probe on Sarawak Tribune , beginning with questioning its editor who was alleged to have been responsible for publishing the caricatures, Lester Melanyi, 40.

He was investigated under Section 8(2) of the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984.

In an interview following the controversy, Melanyi said a senior editor had approved the page before it went to print.

The government had also suspended Chinese newspaper Guangming Daily for two weeks for reproducing the caricatures.

Yesterday, two international media organisations called on Abdullah to lift the suspension on Tribune and set an example for the Muslim world.