KUALA LUMPUR (June 5): Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) founder P Uthayakumar was today sentenced to a two-and-half-year jail term by the Sessions court of sedition charges.

He said he would not appeal the judgement.

Uthayakumar, during earlier proceedings, had refused to submit his final defence saying: "Because of the circumstances of the case and in protest of the institutionalised racist government policies, victimising in particular the Indian poor, I'm unable to proceed further in my defence."

He told journalists he decided as such, as in course of the long-drawn matter the courts had consistently refused to heed his arguments.

"I had the option of saying I didn't write the letter because the letter was not recovered from me or my office. It was found on a website.

"No statements were taken from me. I was hauled straight to court and charged. The website ("Police Watch Malaysia") was also closed down after my arrest under the ISA on Dec 13, 2007. So I could have easily said I didn't write the letter, there won't be any evidence," said Uthayakumar.

"But I stood by my struggle and said yes I wrote the letter. Somebody has to pay the price unfortunately it has to be me," Uthayakumar told journalists during the four-hour stand-down before the sentence was meted out.

He explained that during the trial he had stated that words used in the letter specifically "ethnic cleansing" and "genocide" were put in inverted commas to indicate the seriousness of the issue.

"It doesn't mean that's the case," he said.

"I had submitted a newspaper article to the court of the prime minister saying that there is taxi slavery in Malaysia. Where got slaves in Malaysia?"

"In 11 days there were three deaths in custody, if I don't speak up who will? For us this is another stage of our struggles," Uthayakumar said.

Judge Ahmad Zamzani Mohd Zain convicted Uthayakumar of sedition, saying that he had failed to prove, beyond reasonable doubt, against the prosecution's case.

DPP Noorin Badaruddin appealed that the judge sentence Uthayakumar to three years jail, as stated under the law looking at the gravity of the offence.

After hearing the submissions, Ahmad Zamzani ordered the 30 months prison term.

Uthayakumar, 49, a former Internal Security Act (ISA) detainee, was charged at the Sessions Court on Dec 11, 2007, with publishing an allegedly seditious letter on the "Police Watch Malaysia" website, dated Nov 15, 2007, addressed to then British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

He was charged under Section 4(1)(a) of the Sedition Act 1948, which upon conviction, carries a penalty of a fine or three years' jail for the first offence.

Noorin, in her submission, said Uthayakumar had "blatantly accused the government, more specifically Umno" of committing a crime against humanity in accusing the government of "ethnic cleansing."

"Words used by the accused in the letter such as 'mini genocide', 'ethnic cleansing', 'armed terrorist' and 'Islamic extremist', are words that paint a picture of an extreme crime and a most brutal racial oppression internationally.

"Such as the crime against humanity in Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as in Myanmar, which in truth has never happened in this country," said Noorin.

"This is not just a seditious tendency but much worse," she argued.

Noorin said Uthayakumar had crossed the limits of criticism, and his act had marred the unity in a multiracial country.

She also submitted that the Uthayakumar's allegations against the government in tackling deaths in custody and the racial clash in Kampung Medan in 2011 were fictitious.

"He based it all on his own beliefs of an 'ethnic cleansing' in Kampung Medan because his requests to form a royal commission of inquiry was not fulfilled.

"Whereas in the inquest he has been championing for himself saying he 'gives up' because no enforcement or police officers are punished," said Noorin.

She added that the accused was "irresponsible" in publishing the letter according to his "personal sentiments and disordered emotions".