An ethnic Indian leader in Malaysia will be put on trial for sedition after a top court on Tuesday dismissed his plea to quash the charges against him.
Malaysia's High Court dismissed a preliminary objection by opposition leader Karpal Singh that he should be freed of a charge under the country's draconian Sedition Act.
Singh, chairman of the opposition Democratic Action Party (DAP), is charged with uttering seditious words at a press conference related to the Sultan of Perak state in February.
The ethnic Indian leader, who is also a leading lawyer, raised the preliminary objection on the ground that the letter of consent did not meet the provisions of the Sedition Act 1948, which stated that an accused could not be charged with an offence without a letter of consent from the prosecution.
The court ruled that the consent letter from the Public Prosecutor was complete because it was signed by the Public Prosecutor and not his deputy.
"In the case before us today, there is a written consent letter which is nearly the same as the one usually issued for cases which carry a heavier penalty," the court ruled. He then fixed July 12-14 for trial.
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