KUALA LUMPUR, March 25 (AFP) - Lawyers Saturday adopted a motion urging Malaysia's chief prosecutor to withdraw the criminal prosecution against Anwar Ibrahim's attorney, who is facing a controversial sedition charge.

"The attorney-general is urged to withdraw criminal prosecution against lawyer Karpal Singh for statements uttered in the course of judicial proceedings," the lawyers' resolution said.

Sulaiman Abdullah, the newly elected President of the Malaysian Bar Council said the resolution would strengthern the individual lawyer's confidence and belief that his profession will back him up.

"It will send a very strong signal to the public that lawyers are prepared to stand up for their clients.

"It sends a very strong signal to persons in authority that lawyers are not prepared to just lie down and die. They are going to stand up for what they believe are the fundamental rights in order to carry out their obligations," he told reporters after its annual general meeting.

The lawyers' resolution also calls for Attorney-General Mohtar Abdullah and the Malaysian goverment to respect the rights of an independent Bar.

It said Mohtar would set a dangerous and unfair precedent if he continued to prosecute laywers for what they said in court.

Karpal is one of the lawyers for the jailed ex-deputy premier and is also a senior opposition party official.

The meeting was reschedule from last Saturday after failing to reach the quorum set by law.

More than 100 lawyers had submitted the motion deploring the sedition charge against Karpal.

He was one of five opposition figures charged in January and bailed pending trial in an operation widely criticised overseas. Sedition is punishable by up to three years' jail.

Karpal is alleged to have breached the sedition law with his comments last September during Anwar's sodomy trial, about possible attempts to poison his client with arsenic.

A medical inquiry found Anwar was not suffering from "acute or chronic" arsenic poisoning at the time it conducted its tests.

Anwar, sacked by Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad in September 1998, was jailed last April for six years for abusing his powers when deputy premier to quash allegations of sexual misconduct.

He is still on trial for sodomy, a charge punishable by up to 20 years. The Bar Council has clashed with the government in the past over the conduct of the case against Anwar.

Sulaiman, who represented Anwar during the corruption trial, said about 1,752 lawyers who attended the meeting gave overwhelming support for the motion that lawyers must be able to speak without fear for their client.

"We feel the independent lawyer in Malaysia is rapidly becoming an endangered species. All of us are ardent conservationists at heart. We would like to maintain the freedom of the Bar," he said.

Sulaiman said the Bar agreed action could be taken against lawyers who made comments considered comtempt of court.

"What we are against is criminal prosecution of a lawyer for words spoken by him in the course of his defence," he said.

Lawyers also pressed the government to remove all restrictions placed on publications with regard to frequency and to repeal the Printing Presses and Publication Act 1984 to ensure there will no conditions imposed on permits for press licenses.

"We are very strongly in favour of full freedom of expression in Malaysia and we will come out strongly in favour of the press should there be any danger to the freedom," he said.

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