KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - A fate of hanging or life imprisonment on Friday awaited 19 members of a Muslim sect convicted of armed rebellion for their role in a hare-brained scheme to create an Islamic state in multi-cultural Malaysia.
The men, all members of the Al-Ma'unah movement which grew out of martial arts cult, filed into the High Court in Kuala Lumpur, a day after being found guilty, for the judge to hear the last of the mitigation pleas before passing sentence.
Al-Ma'unah's 30-year-old leader Mohamed Amin Razali, a former army private, and 28 followers surrendered in July last year after a stand-off in the jungle of northern Malaysia, during which a soldier, a policeman and a sect member were killed.
The gang was tracked down after driving off with arms and ammunition from two army camps, where they had by-passed guards by posing as officers.
During the 125-day trial only one defense witness was called, but several of the accused turned on their leader, Amin, blaming him for tricking or coercing them into following his orders to wage a jihad, or holy war.
Amin was removed from court several times during the trial because of his disruptive behavior -- at one point he threw his shoe -- but has seldom spoken even to his defense counsel. Entering the court on Friday, Amin, arrived in the lead Landrover of a police convoy, and was brought in alone, flanked by policemen toting submachine guns.
Some of the other convicted men smiled and waved to relatives waiting in the rain outside the courthouse as they were brought handcuffed to the court.
Half of them have already made their pleas, apologizing to the king -- Malaysia's constitutional head -- and country and begging for mercy.
Almost a year ago 10 members of the cult were sentenced to 10 years in jail after charges against them were lowered to a lesser count of preparing to wage war.
POLITICAL RESONANCE
Al-Ma'unah, which the authorities characterized as a deviant sect, saw its goal as fighting on behalf of suppressed Muslims, and its leaders mixed superstition, religion and martial arts mumbo-jumbo to convince their followers they would be invincible in battle.
But for all the slickness of the two arms heists, the group's previous actions amounted to taking a few potshots at a Hindu temple at Batu Caves, breweries on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur, and a power company's electric tower.
Although the authorities know several other religious deviant groups are operating in the country, the Al-Ma'unah case is regarded as an isolated episode in Malaysia, which is seen as one of the most stable, peaceful states in Southeast Asia.
But High Court Judge Zulkefli Ahmad Makinudin's choice of words in his judgement, focusing on Al-Ma'unah's objective of an Islamic state and its pursuit of an Islamic jihad, or holy war, had a resonance in Malaysia's mainstream political debate.
Prime Minister Mahathir multi-ethnic coalition has challenged the main opposition Parti Islam se-Malaysia to spell out its avowed goal of an Islamic state.
At the same time the police are holding several PAS party members in detention without trial on suspicion of belonging to a militant group.
Police say the suspects aimed to wage a violent campaign to bring about an Islamic state in a country where the Chinese and Indian third of the population are non-Muslim, and religious and racial sensitivities are high.