Malaysia activists denounce arrests under draconian law
Updated
The United States has weighed in with Malaysian activists who have denounced the arrests of an opposition politician, a prominent blogger and a journalist under the Internal Security Act.
The arrests comes as the opposition tries to seize power from Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi.
Following the arrests, the United States summoned Malaysia's top envoy in Washington for a second time in a month to protest at the apparent crackdown on dissent.
Blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin has been charged with sedition and defamation after linking Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak and his wife to the sensational murder of a Mongolian woman on his website "Malaysia Today".
Reporter Tan Hoon Cheng from the Chinese-language Sin Chew Daily News had reported on an outburst from a ruling party member who called ethnic Chinese "squatters".
Teresa Kok from the opposition Democratic Action Party was the third to be arrested under the tough security law.
Three Malaysian newspapers -- the Sin Chew Daily News, The Sun, a free English-language daily, and Suara Keadilan, which is published by the opposition -- were also threatened with suspension on friday.
