Jailed Keadilan Youth chief Mohd Ezam Mohd Nor said today he is willing to relinquish his post if it can help the merger between his party and PRM to proceed smoothly.

Otherwise, the party leader stressed, he has no intention to quit the post he has held since Keadilan's formation in 1998.

He said this when asked to elaborate on a press statement he issued on Saturday which dismissed rumours that he was quitting the party.

He was met outside the Kuala Lumpur Magistrate's Court this morning where he was to attend a hearing on an illegal assembly charge against him and seven others.

However, the hearing was postponed to Wednesday as one of the defence counsel, CV Prabhakaran, was attending another case at the Court of Appeal.

Mohd Ezam is currently serving a two-year jail sentence for breaching the Official Secrets Act by exposing classified documents pertaining to a probe on International Trade and Industry Minister Rafidah Aziz and former Melaka chief minister Rahim Thamby Chik.

The duo were accused of corruption but the case has been closed due to 'insufficient' evidence.

Arsenic poisoning

Also facing the charge of participating in an illegal assembly were Keadilan vice president Mohd Azmin Ali, malaysiakini columnist-cum-filmmaker Hishamuddin Rais and five others.

The five are Anuar Zalik, Tan Sow Kow, Zulkiflee SM Amarul Haq, Zaharuddin Ayob and Abdul Ghani Haroon.

The defendants were jointly charged with participating in an illegal assembly at Jalan Tun Tan Cheng Lock, Kuala Lumpur at 3.30pm on Sept 11, 1999.

They were said to be on their way to Istana Negara to submit a memorandum of protest regarding jailed ex-deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim's alleged arsenic poisoning.

In April last year, Mohd Ezam, Hishamuddin and several others were detained under the Internal Security Act for allegedly planning to overthrow the government through militant means, a charge which has been denied.

At present, Hishamuddin and four others are being held for two years under the security law at the Kamunting Detention Centre in Perak.

Mohd Ezam was also serving a similar sentence until he was found guilty of contravening the OSA in August and is now jailed at the Kajang Prison in Selangor.

Arguments rejected

Earlier, magistrate Lim Kui Lee turned down several applications to postpone the case after rejecting the arguments submitted by the defence counsel.

Lawyers Edmund Bon and Mohd Yusmadi Mohd Yusoff who represented Mohd Ezam and Hishamuddin urged the court to postpone the trial as there is a pending application made before the Ipoh High Court with regard to the issue of access to counsel.

Bon submitted it would be contemptuous for the magistrate to proceed with today's proceeding when the court is aware of the pending decision.

Another lawyer Amir Hamzah Arshad, who acted for the rest, also called for a postponement and urged the court to allow his clients and their counsel to discuss the case with Mohd Ezam and Hishamuddin who are not accessible to them at present.

The lawyer said that the defendants needed to discuss the case to prepare a comprehensive defence considering that it was a joint trial.

However, the lengthy arguments failed to impress the magistrate who took less than 10 minutes to reject the applications.

Family members and supporters later mobbed Mohd Ezam and Hishamuddin, who appeared cheerful, as the pair were led to the court lock-up.