The trial of several Keadilan leaders charged with 'rioting' when they stopped a number of buses filled with alleged phantom voters during the Lunas by-election in Kedah two years ago has been postponed to mid-April.

Tian Chua, Mohd Ezam Mohd Nor, N Gobalakrishnan, Azmin Ali, Ruslan Kassim and five other opposition activists, face charges under the Penal Code. Their cases will be heard at the Kulim Magistrates Court over three days beginning April 22.

Their lawyer Saiful Izham said the hearing today was postponed because Azmin could not be present.

"He was feeling ill today and there were also some technical problems the lead defence counsel Yunos Sharif was facing," Saiful said.

He also said that Ezam and Tian were in court today, having been brought to Sungai Petani from the Kamunting Detention Centre where they are currently being held for two years under the Internal Security Act.

The case was heard before Sessions Court judge Rosnaini Saub at the Magistrates Court in Sungai Petani.

They were charged with participating in an illegal assembly on Nov 29 between 6.30am and 9am at Taman Mewah, Kulim, Kedah, during which they allegedly stopped 14 buses with passengers who were on their way to the Barisan Nasional office at Taman Sri Seladang, Lunas, Kulim.

Buses of BN supporters

Nov 29 was polling day for the Lunas constituency following the death of its BN state assembly representative Dr Joe Fernandez.

The opposition had alleged that the buses were filled with phantom voters and lodged reports with the police.

However, 10 of them were later arrested in December 2000 under sections 147 for 'rioting' and 342 for 'wrongful confinement'.

The first charge carries a two-year jail sentence or a fine, or both; the second, a jail term of up to one year or a fine of RM2,000, or both.

In the hotly contested by-election, the opposition Keadilan candidate Saifuddin Nasution scored an upset victory over the ruling coalition's MIC candidate S Anthonysamy with a tissue-thin majority of 530 votes.