KUALA LUMPUR: "If you want to talk, I will give you a longer sentence and you can talk as much as you want in jail!"

This was Sessions judge Akhtar Tahir's response to an outburst by three Myanmar brothers who were yesterday convicted of the attempted murder of a Myanmar embassy counsellor and committing mischief by fire or explosive substance in 2004.

As he sentenced the three -- Abdul Fariyas Oo Hardi, 46, and his brothers Mohd Salim, 42, and Muslim, 39 -- to 36 years' jail each for both charges, they screamed: "Tak ada keadilan sini, tak ada hak asasi" (there is no justice and no rights in this country).

Akhtar ordered the court policemen to keep them quiet, but they continued shouting, demanding to see their families and claiming to have been beaten up in prison.

He then said, in passing the sentence, at the end of the defence case: "This is a very serious issue. It is clear that they have no remorse for their actions to the point where they even tried to set the embassy building on fire."
The brothers, who represented themselves after discharging several lawyers appointed by the court and by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), were found guilty of attempting to murder Khin Maung Lynn, 53.

They committed the offence by stabbing Khin with a knife and slashing him with an axe, at the Myanmar embassy at 12, Jalan Ru, off Jalan Ampang Hilir, about 9.45am on April 7.

They were also found guilty of committing mischief by fire at the embassy building, intending to cause the destruction of the building, at the same time and place.

Deputy public prosecutor B. Sarala Pillai submitted that the brothers had not shown any sign of remorse for what they had done.

"It was just a stroke of luck that nobody was killed when they tried to burn down the place."

Sarala proposed the maximum sentence to be meted out to all three.

"They are foreigners who came into the country on the pretext of seeking refuge and they have no regard for the law here."

The brothers came to Malaysia in early 2000 and although they had registered with the UNHCR, they did not follow up with the organisation to obtain their refugee status.

They claimed during defence that they went to the embassy three times to discuss matters pertaining the independence of Myanmar, claiming that their father had fought for the country's freedom.

However, during cross-examination, Abdul Fariyas told the court a different version, claiming that he and his brother had gone to the embassy to translate a Myanmar document about his father.

Abdul Fariyas also claimed that officers in the embassy had beaten them.

Akhtar ordered the sentences to run consecutively from the date of their arrest on April 7, 2004.