Warrant of arrest issued against Hindraf's Uthaya

A warrant of arrest has been issued against Hindraf de facto leader P Uthayakumar this morning for failing to attend a court hearing on the sedition charges against him. 

He said this was despite the fact that his bailor had produced a medical certificate at the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court at the 9am hearing today, saying that he is “not fit to attend court” from April 2 to May 17. 

“Despite that, the deputy public prosecutor protested and said that I am attending ceramahs and campaigning. So she asked for a warrant of arrest and the judge (Ahmad Zamzani Mohd Zain) allowed the warrant of arrest,” he told Malaysiakini when contacted.
 
However, Uthayakumar, who is contesting in Kota Raja and Seri Andalas, said his work was largely limited to his campaign operations room due to pain from his medical condition.
 
This consists of prolapsed discs and small tumours on his spinal cord, for which he has obtained medical leave from University Kebangsaan Malaysia Hospital (HUKM) consultant neurosurgeon Dr Shanmugaraja Paramasvaran.

“There is a hotel room above our operations room. Every couple of hours, I would have to lie down. Either that or in the car, then the pain is released.

“The pain is in my backbone, then it (the prickling pain) radiates down to my lower legs. My last two or three toes get numb,” he said, adding that he was on painkillers. 

'Campaigns in the operations room'

He stressed he campaigns mainly by holding briefings with his supporters in the operations room, who then fan out to canvass votes. He claims to have never held any public speeches outdoors.

The exceptions were when he was invited to meet about 20 supporters at their home and attended a temple function yesterday, he said.

Uthayakumar, who is expecting to be arrested at “any time”, claims the move is a backlash from his attack on his brother P Waythamoorthy, who has openly pledged support for BN.

He said 54 court cases against Hindraf supporters for participating in a rally against the controversial book ‘Interlok’ have been withdrawn in stages over the past two weeks, but in contrast, he said that the authorities are “coming down hard” on him.

Uthayakumar has been facing the charge since 2007 for allegedly writing a seditious letter addressed to then British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

He has been issued an arrest warrant for failing to attend court before in August 2012, because at the time he was at the High Court trying to get the date for a stay application for his case.