KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 25 (AFP) -
Judgement in the trial of 19 members of an Islamic cult charged with treason in Malaysia has been set for December 27, the official Bernama news agency reported Thursday.
High Court judge Zulkefli Ahmad Makinudin fixed the date after final submissions by prosecutors and lawyers for members of the Al-Ma'unah cult, who face a possible death penalty if convicted.
The formal charge is "waging war" against the king, but the court heard after the trial began on September 11 last year that the cult planned a "holy war" to oust Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.
Ten cult members earlier pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of preparing to wage war and were jailed for 10 years' each. Sentences on two were reduced to seven years on appeal.
The martial arts cult, which taught members they were invulnerable to bullets, sparked the country's biggest security alert for decades in July 2000 when they disguised themselves as soldiers and stole more than 100 weapons from two military armouries.
The cultists then retreated to a jungle hideout where they broadcast calls over army radio for Mahathir to quit. They surrendered following a four-day standoff with some 2,000 troops after murdering a policeman and a soldier whom they had held hostage.
The alleged cult leader, Mohamed Amin Mohamed Razali, 29, was ordered exempt from attending the trial last month because of his disruptive behaviour.