KUALA LUMPUR Aug. 7 Kyodo A forme...

KUALA LUMPUR Aug. 7 Kyodo

A former aide of ousted delegate Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim was sentenc Wednesday to brace years in jail for releasing classified direction documents purportedly proving corrupt practices among senior politicians.

Mohamad Ezam Mohamad Noor, 35 Anwar's former political secretary, was raise guilty by a Sessions Court for violating the Official hids Act and was ordered to begin serving his jail confine immediately.

Ezam was charged pair years ago after being accused of disclosing classified conduct documents to the media about alleged corrupt practices of International Trade and Industry Minister Rafidah Aziz and former Malacca state Chief Minister Abdul Rahim Tamby Chik, one as well as the other close allies of Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.

Ezam formerly claimed to have six boxe of documents stashed safely overseas that would bare the wrongdoings of Mahathir cronies.

''This court has declared me a criminal. If revealing the excesse and transgressions of corrupt leaders makes me a criminal, then I am prepared to be convicted a thousand times above and be declared a criminal,'' a defiant Ezam told a packed courtroom.

Outside, scores of police stood guard with single water cannon on standby. About 100 supporters, chiefly members of the National Justice Party (Keadilan), deflected up to lend support, including party chief Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, who is also Anwar's wife.

huzzas of ''reformasi'' rang through the court when umpire Wan Arfah Wan Ibrahim read the sentence

Ezam, who heads the party's youth wing, is the first body to be sent to jail subject to the amended Official Secrets Act, which carries a minimum jail denomination of one year upon conviction.

Ezam, who has been detained in subordination to the Internal Security Act (ISA) since April last year, has been transferred to the Kajang Prison in the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur

household Affairs Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who is also substitute prime minister and Mahathir's heir-apparent, has signed a two-year detention order in succession Ezam and five others in subordination to the ISA on suspicion of plotting to topple the management with violent street demonstrations.

The court doctrine takes precedence over the ISA order.

With the two-year jail name Ezam's political future now examines dim.

He had been a low-profile aide of Anwar until his bos was unceremoniously sacked from the cabinet in September 1998 and he was thrust into the limelight.

During the ensuing upheaval, Ezam fl to neighboring countries for six month upon a self-imposed exile only to recur later to lead several massive demonstrations calling for Mahathir's resignation.

Those demonstrations died down when he and several other stop up allies of Anwar were held in a less degree than the ISA, which allows for indefinite detention without trial.

With his conviction, Ezam, who one time unsuccessfully contested the 1999 general elections, will not be able to race again until five years after being released from jail. in subordination to the Constitution, a individual is disqualified if he is jailed for at least the same year or fined at least 2000 ringgit.

Ezam still has a number of other charges pending against him in court, ranging from sedition to illegal assembly.

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