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PETALING JAYA: Blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin said he left jail on bail yesterday because the prison authorities could not guarantee his safety.

"They told me that Sirul (Corporal Sirul Azhar Umar) and Azilah (Chief Inspector Azilah Hadri) had threatened that something was going to happen to me," he said.

Sirul and Azilah, both members of the Special Action Squad, are on trial for murdering Mongolian beauty Altantuya Shaariibuu at a jungle in Bukit Raja nine months ago.

Raja Petra said the two shouted at him when they saw him in prison.

He said the authorities had assigned two Special Action Squad officers to watch over him.

The Prisons Department deputy director-general for operations, Datuk Zulkifli Omar, said the provision of additional security for people who had attracted wide publicity was a normal procedure in prison.

"When there is wide publicity on the person being charged, it is the norm for us to provide additional security.

"This is nothing new," he said in response to Raja Petra's comments.

Asked if the prison authorities had told Raja Petra to go out on bail, he said that the officers would give advice to prisoners who might be confused in making a decision.

"It is then up to them on what they want to do," he said.

Raja Petra, 58, the editor of Malaysia Today, was charged in the Petaling Jaya Sessions Court on Tuesday for publishing an allegedly seditious article on his website.

He was alleged to have committed the offence at his house in Bukit Rahman Putra, Sungai Buloh.

The article entitled "Let's Send the Altantuya Murderers to Hell" was posted on www.malaysia-today.net on April 25.

A defiant Raja Petra Kamarudin, who had earlier chosen to remain in jail until his trial in October, said he would continue to write on his website in a day or two.

After spending three nights at the Sungai Buloh prison, he was released on bail at 9.30am yesterday.

He arrived in the Petaling Jaya courthouse in a Black Maria.

Raja Petra, who was handcuffed, waved to a cheering crowd as he alighted from the truck.

Some of his supporters wore yellow T-shirts, with the words "Justice for All...Tantuya" on the front, together with Raja Petra's picture.

He was taken into the courthouse to sign his release papers, accompanied by wife Marina Lee Abdullah and lawyer J. Chandra, before changing into a black T-shirt.

Raja Petra had initially refused to meet his family or lawyers at the prison on Wednesday.

Speaking after his release, Raja Petra said there were no reasons for him to have met anyone.

"I only wanted to meet them in October (when his trial begins), " he said.

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