Malaysia has passed a controversial anti-terrorism bill, which the government says is necessary to tackle the threat from Islamist extremists. The bill reintroduces indefinite detention without trial, which the Prime Minister had repealed in 2012. Human Rights Watch called the move “a giant step backwards for human rights.” The bill passed hours after police authorities…
Court Jails Malaysian Opposition Leader For Sodomy
The leader of the largest opposition movement in Malaysia, Anwar Ibrahim, has been sentenced to five years in prison for Sodomy by a Malaysian court on Tuesday. Anwar has been in court over a period of seven years. After a two-hour reading of the verdict, Judge Arifin Zakaria found Anwar guilty. He upheld that the…
Tackling Airport ‘Rats’
Sometime in 2009, while on a visit to the United States, US, for a journalism programme, I had a discussion with an African American called Mark. As we got talking, I asked whether he had visited Nigeria. He smiled and said no, but that he didn’t look forward to visiting. “Why?” I asked. With a…
Malaysia airliner crashes in east Ukraine
A Malaysian airliner reportedly carrying 295 passengers has crashed in Ukraine near the Russian border. The plane was on a flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur on Thursday. Malaysia Airlines said it had lost contact with Flight MH17 from Amsterdam. The last known position was over Ukraine. An aviation source in Moscow told Reuters the…
