The Shah Alam Sessions Court today have postponed the sentencing for the 25 Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) members who had earlier pleaded guilty to charges of participating in an illegal assembly and causing mischief, to Feb 1 next year.

The 25 were originally also charged with attempted murder but attorney-general Abdul Gani Patail - who made an unprecedented move to personally prosecute the case - dropped the charges last week.

The postponement was made after senior deputy public prosecutor Mohd Yusof Zainal Abidin said the Attorney-General’s Chambers was seeking to consolidate all the cases resulting from the crackdown of the Nov 25 Hindraf rally.

He said 39 of those facing similar illegal assembly charges at the Selayang Sessions Court are to be transferred to the Shah Alam court.

“It would be more convenient to bring those at the Selayang court to Shah Alam to face consolidated charges as the prosecutors wish to produce additional charges,” Yusof said.

Once the consolidation process have been completed, Yusof said that the Selayang group will be slapped with an additional charge under Section 149/440 of the Penal Code - for causing mischief in illegal assemblies.

Those in Selayang were initially charged for committing offences for their participation in illegal assemblies under Section 27 (5) of the Police Act and Section 143 of the Penal Code.

With the agreement from lawyer A Sivanesan who led an eight-men defence team, judge Azimah Omar said the postponement will give the prosecutors time to consolidate the charges.

Azimah also told the Hindraf 25 that they could still retract their guilty plea before the sentencing date and claim trial.

The 25 could face up to five years in prison or a fine, or both, when they are sentenced in five weeks’ time.

The court room was packed with some 80 supporters and family members of the Hindraf 25. Also present were opposition party leaders who were there to lend support to the accused.

AG should not prosecute

Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang, who was in court this morning, urged the AG to drop all charges.

“They are not criminals, they were merely expressing valid grievances that the Indian community have suffered after being marginalised for so long in this country.

“The AG should withdraw the charges and instead use the Hindraf rally to reflect and find ways to solve the Indian marginalisation problem . I am disappointed with this rigmarole of the justice system,” he added.

The Hindraf rally saw 30,000 disgruntled Indians taking to the streets of Kuala Lumpur with the police using chemical-laced water and tear gas to disperse them.

Meanwhile, acting Hindraf leader RS Thanenthiran revealed that two Hindraf Internal Security Act detainees - P Uthayakumar and V Ganabatirau - have suffered from food poisoning last Monday.

Thanenthiran, who was also present at the court, told reporters that the two - who are being detained without trial - had a bout of food poisoning after being served meat.

“The two are vegetarians. Of course, they will suffer from food poisoning if they are served with meat,” said Thanenthiran.

However, he was quick to add that there was no suspicion of foul play in the incident and that the two had been given medical assistance.