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4 more charged with burning churches
[Straits Times] MALAYSIAN police said on Tuesday they had charged four men with attempting to set two churches and a school ablaze, after a spate of attacks on places of worship that have heightened ethnic tension.The suspects, aged between 18 and 29, are among seven arrested over the firebombings in Taiping, in northern Perak state on Jan 10, Perak police chief Zulkifli Abdullah said. 'The police have investigated the case and the four are charged in court today for arson. They will face a maximum 20 years in jail if found guilty,' Mr Zulkifli told AFP. 'The three others who were not charged will testify in the case as witnesses,' the police official said. The four men are the second batch of suspects to be brought to court, after three men were charged last week for setting alight a church in a southern suburb of Kuala Lumpur on Jan 8. Nineteen people have so far been arrested for their roles in the attacks on churches, mosques and Muslim prayer halls - which have been pelted with Molotov cocktails, stones, paint and severed pig heads. The incidents were sparked by a December court ruling that allowed non-Muslims to use the word 'Allah' as a translation for 'God'. Posted by: Fred 2010-02-03 |
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