Several international watchdog groups have written to Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi expressing their concern over the recent conviction of labour rights activist Irene Fernandez for publishing false news.

"We would like to express our deep disquiet at the sentencing of Irene Fernandez to 12 months imprisonment on Oct 16, 2003.

"We are concerned that the Printing Presses and Publications Act (PPPA) violates international human rights standards,"said Amnesty International's Hong Kong chapter, Hong Kong PEN, Hong Kong Journalists Association and Paris-based Reporters Sans Frontiers in a joint letter to Abdullah.

The groups said that bans on publication of 'false news' - such as the PPPA provision used to charge Fernandez - have been found by the United Nations Human Rights Committee and a number of constitutional courts around the world to be in breach of the guarantees to freedom of expression.

Probe allegations

Instead of taking action against Fernandez, the groups said authorities should have investigated concerns raised by the labour rights activist in her report Abuses, Torture and Dehumanised Treatment of Migrant Workers at Detention Camps.

"The human rights concerns that Irene Fernandez raised in the report have been reiterated by other human rights organisations and foreign governments.

"It is regrettable that Malaysian authorities have chosen to prosecute her for raising these concerns rather than investigating the allegations of torture and ill-treatment (in detention camps)," they said.

Fernandez's conviction for "maliciously publishing false news" have been widely criticised by local and foreign non-government organisations.

The activist, who is the director of labour rights organisation Tenaganita, had been charged with the offence seven years ago for publishing the abovementioned detention camp report which included testimony by former inmates of appalling conditions in Malaysian immigration detention camps.

Since the conclusion of her trial, Fernandez had also come across other problems, including a travel ban on grounds that she might further "tarnish the country's image" while abroad.

Restricted circulation

Meanwhile, the watchdog groups also expressed concern over the use of the PPPA in the past to restrict the distribution of foreign and local publications.

The publications named by the groups included the Far Eastern Economic Review, Time Magazine and International Herald Tribune as well as political party organs Harakah and Rocket.

"We are disturbed by the chilling effect that the threat of prosecution under the PPPA has on the freedom of press in Malaysia," they added.

The government is known for its sensitivity to press reports which are considered critical of the government or the country.

Foreign publications are routinely held up from circulation while articles are vetted by Home Ministry censors.