KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 23 — The Cabinet must take into account the damning international reaction towards DAP’s Karpal Singh’s sedition conviction when it convenes on Wednesday, DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang said today.

The Gelang Patah MP said the verdict on Friday has dented respect and confidence in the independence of Malaysia’s judiciary and rule of just law.

“Human rights and democracy, and in particular freedom of speech, are the major casualties in Karpal’s sedition conviction,” Lim said in a statement.

“Will the adverse national and international reactions to Karpal’s sedition conviction be seriously considered by the Cabinet on Wednesday, as it goes against all the promises for legal reforms and the Prime Minister’s pledge to make Malaysia ‘the best democracy in the world’?”

On Friday, veteran DAP lawmaker Karpal Singh was found guilty of sedition over remarks made regarding the Sultan of Perak’s role in the 2009 state constitutional crisis.

The verdict has since been condemned by the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), a Geneva-based group made of 60 jurists promoting human rights and rule of law, in addition to the local Bar Council.

According to Lim, the verdict was another blow towards the public’s perception on the independence, integrity and efficiency of the justice and judiciary system.

This followed several alleged selective prosecution by the police force and the Attorney-General’s Chambers, Lim said.

The veteran statesman also said that Karpal has never transgressed the limits of free speech with his comments, and had never resorted to violence or hate speech.

This is in stark contrast, Lim said, to violent threats against DAP’s Seputeh MP Teresa Kok and the fatwa issued by Perak Mufti Tan Sri Harussani Zakaria saying it was permisssable “halal” (to shed the blood of participants of an anti-price hike rally held on December 31.

Karpal, 73, was initially charged in March 2009 with uttering seditious words at a press conference, when he said the removal of then-mentri besar Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin by the Sultan was open to legal challenge.

He was initially acquitted in June 2010 but lost when the government appealed.

The Bukit Gelugor MP risks being stripped of his seat if he is fined more than RM1,000 or sentenced to a jail term of more than one year.

Under Section 4(1)(b) of the Act, he can be punished with a maximum three years’ jail, RM5,000 fine or both.