ACTIVIST WALKS FREE "AFTER 13 YEARS OF STRUGGLE"

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 25 (Bernama) -- Migrant workers' activist Irene Fernandez
walked free Monday after winning "a 13-year struggle" to quash a charge of
maliciously publishing false news in 1995.

"I am so relieved and happy. I am free now after 13 years of struggle. I
always believe that truth and justice will prevail and I think today (Monday) it
has happened," she told reporters outside the courtroom.

The High Court had acquitted the 62-year-old Tenaganita Sdn Bhd director,
setting aside her conviction and 12-month jail term imposed by the Kuala Lumpur
Magistrate's Court on Oct 16, 2003, for publishing a memorandum containing false
news at the Tenaganita office on Aug 25 1995.

She was said to have exposed the poor conditions at immigration detention
centres in a memorandum entitled "Abuse, Torture and Dehumanised Conditions of
Migrant Workers in Detention Centres".

Justice Mohamed Apandi Ali made the decision after the prosecution
informed the court that it was not opposing Fernandez's appeal against
conviction and sentence on the grounds that the appeal record was
incomprehensible.

The courts have to be systematic in what they do so that technical errors
would not surface," Fernandez said.

When asked of her plans for the future, Fernandez said she would continue
to fight for and support migrants, detainees and refugees to ensure that they
would not be denied their rights and justice.
-- BERNAMA