KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's High Court on Friday sentenced blogger Amizudin Ahmat to three months in jail after finding him “guilty of contempt of court by further publishing 11 articles defaming” Information, Communications and Culture Minister Rais Yatim. Judge Datin Zabariah Mohd Yusof, in her ruling, reportedly said that Ahmat had “breached a court order prohibiting him from publishing such articles on Rais in his blog.” “This is a serious contempt case. The court imposes a custodial order of three months jail, effective today,” she added. After the judge read her ruling, the blogger, who was outside the dock, rose and said: “I admit my mistakes. I apologize. I don't understand.” To this, Yusuf said that had Ahmat not understood the court order, he should have asked his lawyer for clarification. On November 21 last year, Rais, 70, was granted leave to commence committal proceedings against the blogger in relation to a suit he had filed. On July 19 last year, Rais won his suit and the blogger was ordered by the High Court to pay RM300,000 in damages and RM100,000 in costs to the minister. Rais filed the suit on January 31, 2011, against Amizudin, 42, who is a Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) Youth Committee member, for defamation over an article posted on the latter's blogsite, sharpshooterblogger.blogspot.com, around December 28, 2010. Activists and fellow bloggers lashed out at the ruling, saying it was another sign that freedom of speech in Malaysia is taking a massive hit. “What are we to do if we cannot say what we want and when we want. This is the worst thing for Malaysia because it gives people the chance to take to court anyone they disagree with and charge defamation,” one blogger told Bikyamasr.com. Local and international rights groups have long lamented the current state of freedom of speech in the Southeast Asian country and have called on the government to end its crackdowns on bloggers and netizens.
