Malaysia sentenced to two years' imprisonment a prominent blogger
who had been charged under the tough Internal Security Act (ISA),
media reports said.

Malaysiakini.com reported that Home Minister Syed Hamid Albar
signed on September 22 Raja Petra Kamarudin's detention order. The
law provides for indefinite renewal of the two-year detention period
despite the absence of any trial.

Raja Petra has often criticized the government in his popular
Malaysia Today blog.

"The act by the minister to sign the section 8 order yesterday is
completely unacceptable," said Raja Petra's lead lawyer Malik Imtiaz.

The Kuala Lumpur High Court on September 23 heard a habeas corpus
bid by Raja Petra's lawyers to overturn the detention of the
controversial blogger.

Habeas corpus is a writ ordering prisoners to be brought before a
judge to ascertain if there are any procedural defects which could
render their detention unlawful.

Judge Suraya Othman asked lawyers to make their submissions on the
case on October 28.

"This is dirty foul play by the government as they know that we are
in the process of fighting for his release in the court but I was
expecting this," Raja Petra's wife Marina Lee Abdullah said.

Raja Petra was arrested Sept. 12 under the ISA. A journalist and an
opposition legislator were also arrested but were later released.