Wife: RPK cuts contact with outside world
Malaysiakini.com
May 7, 2008 
Syed Jaymal Zahiid 

webmaster Raja Petra Kamaruddin - presently in jail for refusing to pay bail - has rejected all contact with the outside world including his own wife, Marina Lee Abdullah.

Marina when contacted this morning said she had gone to the Sungai Buloh prison to meet Raja Petra and to ask him if he would want to post bail today.

raja petra in jail prison"The officer at the registration counter (of the prison) have informed me that my husband has refused to see anyone including me," she told Malaysiakini.

Marina added she was informed by the police that Raja Petra is apparently on hunger strike.

"The police told me that he refused to eat," lamented Marina.

"He is on a hunger strike. It is a protest," she told AFP. "The last time he did this, his liver was damaged. I don't think he is going to last that long."
Marina said that she had demanded to see the deputy warden of the remand centre to get further information.

After having met with him later, Marina said she suspected that “something was not right” and pressed the the deputy warden on whether food had been given to her husband.

raja petra court case 060508 marina lee abdullah “The officer told me that they did give him coffee, drinks and food but my husband had refused to take them and reiterated that he does not want to see anyone; lawyers or family members,” she said calmly.

"I don't blame him but of course he's my husband and... if he doesn't want to meet even me, this means it is bad news," she said.

Marina had insisted to see her husband but was told by the deputy warden that detainees too have rights and that Raja Petra has every right to refuse contact or consume food given to him.  

Contact again tomorrow

After getting a request from Raja Petra for his spectacles, Marina then went home and returned for a visit with lawyer Matthias Chang this afternoon to demand a letter from her husband as proof of his refusal to meet everyone including family members.

“The prison officers told me that detainees are not allowed to hand over anything from within the prison because it’s the prison rules,” she said.

Even lawyer Chang was unable to see Raja Petra.

The calm 53-year-old Mrs Raja Petra added that she would try to establish contact with her husband again tomorrow.

raja petra court case 060508 petra lockupRaja Petra was charged yesterday with sedition at the Petaling Jaya Sessions Court over an article which he wrote in his website.

The article allegedly implied that Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak and his wife of being involved in the killing of a young Mongolian woman.

Raja Petra claimed trial to the charge. He was charged under Section 4(1)(c) of the Sedition Act for publishing seditious article on April 25 on Malaysia Today.

Hearing has been fixed from Oct 6 to 10 and Raja Petra was granted a bail of RM5,000, which he refused to post, deciding instead to remain in custody until the hearing date five months from today.

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