KUALA LUMPUR — Malaysia on Tuesday jailed a prominent anti-government blogger for two years under a strict security law that can keep him in prison indefinitely for allegedly ridiculing Islam with his writings.
Online commentator Raja Petra Raja Kamarudin was already in police custody and was served a detention order Monday night under the Internal Security Act, said his lawyer Malik Imtiaz Sarwar.
The order was signed by Home Minister Syed Hamid Albar, who told reporters that Raja Petra's writings “ridiculed Islam, which could arouse anger among Muslims” and cause a national security threat.
“We are satisfied that there are strong grounds for him to be ... detained for two years,” Mr. Syed said, adding that authorities will review his case after six months to consider an early release.
Mr. Raja Petra has increasingly infuriated authorities by publishing numerous claims about alleged wrongdoing by government leaders on his popular site, Malaysia Today. The government has denounced most of his allegations as lies.
The detention comes at a time when the government's popularity is at an all-time low and is riven with factional fighting and faces the threat of being ousted by the opposition.
Mr. Raja Petra was arrested Sept. 12 under the security act, which allows for an initial detention of two months for investigation, followed by a two-year jail period that can be renewed indefinitely.
The law is a holdover from British colonial days, when it was used against communist insurgents. Independent Malaysia's postcolonial government has kept it in the statute books and has used it sparingly against political dissidents, ignoring calls from opposition groups and others to disband the law.
He will be held at the Kamunting Detention Center in the central state of Perak. The centre houses about 60 detainees held under the security law, most of whom are suspected Islamic extremists.
Mr. Raja Petra's arrest triggered widespread protests by civil society groups, lawyers and other online commentators.
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