PETALING JAYA, SEPT 25- The Kuala Lumpur High Court today ordered the Kajang prison authorities to allow Hindraf leader P Uthayakumar to seek treatment for his prolapsed disc medical condition.
The Hindraf leader, who is also the Human Rights Party’s pro-tem secretary general, is currently serving time in Kajang prison on a sedition charge.
“Uthayakumar had requested to seek medical treatment from his preferred doctor in Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Hospital (HUKM) and the court had granted permission.
“His medical records are in HUKM and the doctors there will know his condition better,” said his lawyer, Avtar Singh Dhaliwal.
Uthayakumar was jailed for two years and six months after he was found guilty under the Sedition Act 1948, for having written a letter to former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown in 2007 claiming Malaysia was indulging in the ethnic cleansing of minority Indians.
He was charged in 2007 under the legislation and was found guilty in June this year.
Uthayakumar’s wife S.Indra Devi said that her husband was denied medical treatment by the prisons department, adding they only provided him pain killers.
She also said that three doctors from the Kajang prison had recommended that Uthayakumar be provided a chair in his cell to help ease the excruciating pain in his back but claimed that the request fell on deaf ears.
“I’m worried that the usage of pain killers may affect my husband’s kidneys,” she said.
