KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian police Friday freed an opposition politician after holding her for a week under a tough security law, her lawyer said.
"Teresa (Kok) called to tell me that the police have released her," her lawyer Sankara Nair told AFP.
Kok, from the Democratic Action Party (DAP), a member of the opposition alliance, was detained last week along with Malaysia's top blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin under the draconian Internal Security Act.
The ISA, which human rights groups have pushed to have abolished, allows for renewable two-year periods of detention without trial and is normally used against suspected terrorists.
Police said they arrested Kok last Friday because she was involved in a petition to silence the call to prayer in mosques located in non-Muslim areas.
A journalist for a Chinese-language newspaper was also arrested after reporting on racist comments made by a ruling party member, but was quickly released after an uproar including from within the government.
Raja Petra, founder of the controversial Malaysia Today website, was previously charged with sedition and defamation after linking Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak and his wife to a sensational murder.
Kok's release came after Washington Thursday expressed "grave concern" over Malaysia's use of the ISA as a possible way to stifle dissent.
"The United States firmly believes that national security laws, such as the ISA, must not be used to curtail or inhibit the exercise of universal democratic liberties or the peaceful expression of political views," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.
"The detention of opposition leaders under the ISA would be viewed by the United States and the international community as a fundamental infringement of democratic rights and values," he added.
- AFP/yb
Channel NewsAsia
19/09/08
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