Muslims fines for anti-Hindu protests

A Malaysian court fined 12 Muslims and sentenced one of them to a week in prison for illegally protesting the construction of a Hindu temple and parading a severed cow's head.

The men were among scores of Muslims who marched with a cow's head to the central Selangor state chief minister's office last August. The cow is Hinduism's most sacred animal.

Defence lawyer Afifuddin Hafifi said the 12 pleaded guilty in a court today to a charge of illegal assembly.

Mr Afifuddin said two of them who stepped on the cow's head also pleaded guilty to sedition and one was sentenced to a week in prison.