KUALA LUMPUR: An international human rights group has called on the Malaysia government to end its crackdown and “harassment” of local human rights activists and a rights organization in the country after they accused the government of corruption. Amnesty International called on the government to end its crackdown and attacks on the activists and the Suaram rights organization. According to reports, the government is investigating the funding of Suaram, a group know for its opposition-siding activities and which has campaigned against police brutality in the country and corruption. “We hope that the government will end this kind of action against our fellow activists and start to build a foundation that is based on respect and freedom of speech,” said Malaysian activist and blogger Mahammad Taninya. He told Bikyamasr.com that if the actions continue, “the blogosphere and activists are talking about protests and this could really be big.” Earlier this year, a French court started hearing a complaint launched by Suaram, accusing Prime Minister Najib Razak and others over a 2002 deal to buy two submarines from France, Amnesty International said. Amnesty International urged Malaysia in a statement Friday to “end all forms of harassment and intimidation”, saying the recent probe against Suaram appeared “to be a concerted, multi-departmental government campaign.” “Amnesty International is concerned that the recent government actions against Suaram appear to be linked to the organization's legitimate work, in particular a corruption case which it has brought before the French courts,” the London-based group said. It comes a month after activists in the country held an online protest against the government's apparent attacks on free speech, which saw numerous websites black-out their sites in the protest against government infringement of freedom of speech.
