A court in Malaysia sentenced three leaders of a Muslim...

A court in Malaysia sentenced three leaders of a Muslim sect to death by hanging after convicting them of armed rebellion to create an Islamic state in the multi-cultural nation.Life sentences were handed down to 16 other members of the Al-Ma'unah movement, who surrendered along with their comrades after a shootout in the jungle of northern Malaysia in the middle of 2000."I pass the following sentence - death for (Mohamed) Amin Razali, Zahit Muslim and Jamaludin Darus - and life for the others," High Court Judge Zulkefli Ahmad Makinudin said at the climax of the trial, bringing a cry of shock from one woman in an otherwise silent courtroom.Amin, a 30-year-old former army private was Al-Ma'unah's leader. Zahit, a former police commando and Jamaludin, a serving army major, were his right-hand men.Al-Ma'unah, which the authorities characterised as a deviant sect, saw its goal as fighting on behalf of oppressed Muslims, and its leaders mixed superstition, religion and martial arts to convince followers they would be invincible in battle.The Federal Court must now decide whether to uphold the death penalty and life sentences, as all convictions related to top security cases are automatically referred to the country's highest court. Otherwise, the men's only hope of clemency is a royal pardon.