A senior United States congressman today criticised the conviction against labour activist and Tenaganita director Irene Fernandez as a political persecution to silence dissenting voices of the government.

Congressman Tom Lantos said in a protest letter dated today to the Malaysian ambassador to the US Sheikh Abdul Khalid Ghazzali that if the Malaysian government continues with the prosecution of Fernandez, it may eventually affect US-Malaysia bilateral relations.

A copy of the letter was made available to malaysiakini.

Fernandez was found guilty of maliciously publishing 'false news' and sentenced to 12 months imprisonment by the Kuala Lumpur magistrate's court last month. The court later allowed her a stay of execution pending an appeal to the High Court.

Her trial had lasted for more than seven years and dubbed as one of the longest running trials in Malaysian history.

Lantos is a ranking Democratic member of the International Relations Committee of the US House of Representative. He is also the co-founder of the congressional human rights caucus.

In the letter, he said the prosecution against Fernandez was a violation of internationally recognised human rights as the conviction relates to freedom of speech.

"I find it shocking that the Malaysian government even chose to pursue a legal case against Ms Fernandez instead of simply putting forward the government's refutation of her charges in the public arena.

"Given the government's failure to prove that Tenaganita's publication was false, we are left to believe that the persecution of Ms Fernandez is political and is designed to silence critics of the Malaysian government," he said.

'Drop your efforts'

Fernandez was charged under Section 8A(2) of the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984 after releasing a memorandum at a press conference in August 1995 on the alleged torture and death in immigration detention camps.

The memorandum was based on information gathered from more than 300 interviews with former detainees in the camps. However, during the 310 days of trial, the prosecutors did not call any former detainees as witnesses to refute the charges.

"The Malaysian people have so much to offer the world community in the political, economic and security spheres. I fail to see how it makes sense for the Malaysian government to give itself a black eye by its heavy-handed and political prosecution of Ms Fernandez," Lantos said.

He strongly urged the government to drop the efforts to prosecute Fernandez and instead, to deal with the substance of Fernandez's charges.

"A decision to continue with the prosecution of Ms Fernandez will undoubtedly negatively impact US-Malaysian relations," he warned.

The conviction against the activist drew flak from numerous quarters including the United Nations human rights experts who had also called for a review of the case while the US-based Human Rights Watch urged the government to free Fernandez.