Petaling Jaya, March 26-Hindraf de facto leader P Uthayakumar should have been given a lesser sentence similar to DAP chairman Karpal Singh for sedition, said Makkal Sakthi Youth chief J Vasanth.
On Feb 18, the Kuala Lumpur High Court dismissed Uthayakumar’s appeal against his 30-month jail sentence for sedition.
Karpal Singh was fined RM 4,000 fine by the Kuala Lumpur High Court on March 11.
“Karpal received a lesser sentence due to Umno’s fears that the DAP leader had the backing of economically and politically powerful Chinese and Malay voters,” Vasanth said in a statement today.
“Even the previous sedition cases of Ooi Kee Siak and Fan Yew Teng were only fined RM2,000 after the May 13 riots while Lim Guan Eng was sentenced to one-and-a-half years imprisonment in 1994.
“Is Uthaya the softest political target and the Indians can be easily bullied by the Umno-led government?” asked Vasanth.
Vasanth said despite all the challenges Uthaya was still persistent in fighting for poor Indians and refused to come out on bail pending the Court of Appeal’s decision.
Last June, Session Court judge Ahmad Zamzani Mohd Zain found Uthaya guilty under the Sedition Act 1948, for writing seditious letters to then British Prime Minister Gordon Brown in 2007.
The Hindraf leader had first refused to submit his defence at the Sessions Court in protest against the alleged discrimination suffered by Indians in the country.
Justice Azman Husin ruled that the Sessions Court did not err in its verdict but said Uthaya could appeal against the decision in the Court of Appeal.
-Free MalaysiaToday
