Three men claimed trial at the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court today to a charge of setting the Metro Tabernacle Church in Desa Melawati on fire on Jan 7.

Brothers Raja Muhammad Faizal Raja Ibrahim, 24 and Raja Muhammad Idzham Raja Ibrahim, 22, and 23-year-old Azuwan Shah Ahmad were allowed bail of RM20,000 each with one surety, pending mention on March 12.

Each of them was also ordered to post security of RM10,000.

They were charged under Section 436 of the Penal Code, with 'mischief by fire or explosive substance with intent to cause damage'.

U nder the section, the offence carries a maximum prison sentence of 20 years and a fine if found guilty.

They were also charged under Section 34 of the same code with colluding to cause mischief.

The trio were unrepresented, while the prosecution was led by deputy public prosecutors Anslem Charles Fernandes and Lim Keng Fatt.

When asked, Lim declined to comment on the other five detained by the police last week over the arson attack. 

The brothers suffered severe burns on their arms with Raja Muhammad Faizal also showing burn marks on his neck.

“He also suffered burns on the front of his body, causing damage to his kidney,” said Lim.

In court, he was seen in hospital clothes , with a urine bag hanging from his side, while the other two were dressed in dark T-shirts and bermuda shorts.

Nabbed at hospital

All three accused appealed to Justice S M. Komathy Suppiah to reduce the bail to RM5000, claiming it was too high for them on their dispatch riders' wages.

Deputy public prosecutor Fernandes, however, argued against this, saying that the prosecution has “direct evidence” of the trio’s involvement.

The accused were nabbed at a public hospital while being treated for burns which they claimed were sustained while burning rubbish.

Metro Tabernacle church after the firebombing

The three-storey Metro Tabernacle church, part of the Assemblies of God movement, was set ablaze on Jan 8 in a firebombing that left its ground floor gutted.

There have been other desecrations of places of worship across the country over the past three weeks involving at least 10 churches, a Sikh temple, one mosque and two surau.

The attacks were triggered by the High Court's Dec 31, 2009 decision to lift a government ban on non-Muslims using the term 'Allah' as a translation for 'God'.

The ruling in favour of  the Catholic newspaper Herald , which argued for the right to use 'Allah' in its Malay-language section, was suspended last week pending an appeal after the government argued that 'Allah' was exclusive to Muslims.

Muar suspects - remand extended

In MUAR, OCPD Assistant Commissioner Mohd Nasir Ramli confirmed that the remand of the four men suspected to be responsible for firebomb attacks on two surau has been extended for another seven days.

He did not say whether the suspects would be charged soon.

"Police have yet to complete investigations and the magistrate has agreed to our application to extend their remand which ends today," he said when contacted.

The four aged between 16 and 28 were arrested at two separate locations on Jan 21. One of them is a son of a police officer.

  azlan