KUALA LUMPUR: Raja Petra Kamaruddin, the editor of news portal Malaysia Today, claimed trial at the PJ Sessions Court to publishing a seditious article on April 25.

He was charged under Section 4(1)(c) of the Sedition Act 1948.

Nine paragraphs in his article titled "Let's send the Altantuya murderers to hell" were found to be seditious.

The article was posted on his website on April 25.

The court set his bail at RM5,000.

Raja Petra did not post bail. His wife Marina Lee Abdullah said he is hoping to raise the money through his news portal.

As of 2.30pm Tuesday, he was still in lockup at the PJ sessions court.

Earlier Tuesday, Raja Petra arrived at the magistrates' court in the Kuala Lumpur Court Complex in Jalan Duta at 9.06am.

He was later instructed to go to the PJ Sessions Court to be charged.

A crowd of about a hundred people were gathered at the Jalan Duta court. Among them were bloggers and Opposition MPs including Salahuddin Ayub (Kubang Kerian), Datuk Kamarul Baharin Abbas (Teluk Kemang) and Nurul Izzah Anwar (Lembah Pantai).

At 2pm Tuesday, businessman Syed Akbar Ali was also charged under Section 4(1)(c) of the Sedition Act 1948 at a sessions court here for posting a comment on Raja Petra's site on June 5, 2007.

The ex-banker, aged 48, posted the RM3,000 bail set by the court.

Hearing for the submissions whether the charge was groundless is set for June 10.