SHAH ALAM, March 17 — PKR deputy president Azmin Ali condemned today the arrest of his fellow party leader Nurul Izzah Anwar for sedition as “a cruel, unjust and an undemocratic” act that betrayed Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s pledge for reform.

Azmin said the Lembah Pantai MP’s detention exposed serious flaws in Malaysia’s parliamentary democratic system as lawmakers now risk arrests for simply criticising government policies.

“This is a betrayal, cruel and undemocratic..she was arrested for making a speech in Parliament. Where is the freedom to discuss policies freely if the police is used to act upon lawmakers?

“The prime minister and the deputy prime minister must explain as this act made a farce out of his much publicised transformation plan,” Azmin, who is also Selangor Mentri Besar, told reporters here.

Nurul Izzah, who is also PKR vice-president, was detained last night in a sedition investigation for questioning the Federal Court’s decision to jail her father, Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, for sodomy, when she read out parts of his speech in Parliament last Tuesday.

The Gombak MP said the treatment given to Nurul Izzah was unbecoming and unnecessary as she was a federal lawmaker.

He also noted that the Lembah Pantai had already volunteered to cooperate and have her statement over the matter recorded.

“This is an irresponsible action by the PDRM because Nurul Izzah had voluntarily appeared at the police station to have statement recorded so there was no need for them to detain and arrest a federal lawmaker in such a way,” he said.

Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar said in a statement yesterday that Nurul Izzah was arrested under the Sedition Act 1948 for making “contemptuous remarks that those in the judiciary system had sold their souls to the devil”.

PKR said today that Nurul Izzab will be released after the police record her statement.

Her arrest attracted international media coverage as drew condemnation from the global community.

The last MP to be charged with sedition for parliamentary speech was Barisan Nasional MP Mark Koding in 1982, when he questioned the existence of Chinese and Tamil schools and the use of both languages on signboards.

Koding was subsequently convicted for suggesting the amendment of Article 152 of the Federal Constitution that states that the Malay language is the national language.