Activist's website restored
A website that champions jailed Malaysian former deputy leader Anwar Ibrahim returned online today after it was shut down following a complaint that it contained defamatory content.
Freeanwar.com, the main internet platform in the Malaysian political opposition’s international campaign for Anwar’s release, was closed by British-based web hosting company Easyspace on December 11.
Easyspace informed Raja Petra Kamaruddin, an activist responsible for the site since June 2000, by e-mail that the shutdown was due to a complaint the company had received about the site’s content.
The site reappeared overnight, and Raja Petra said Easyspace sent him another e-mail informing him it would review Freeanwar.com’s content and advise him if any material should be removed.
Easyspace, based in Surrey, England, had told Raja Petra the site was taken offline because of “defamatory material and legal threats”.
The company did not say what the allegedly defamatory content was or what legal threats were received, nor did it explain why it had restored the site without asking for anything to be withdrawn from it, said Raja Petra in Kuala Lumpur.
Malaysian officials have in the past accused the opposition of using the internet to spread lies and discredit the government.
The web site carried news and commentaries about Anwar, who is currently serving prison sentences totalling 15 years on corruption and sodomy charges, which he claims were concocted to prevent him from challenging former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.
