KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 4: Malaysia on Friday executed the leader of an Islamic sect found guilty of trying to overthrow the country’s king and the government under former premier Mahathir Mohamad.

Mohamed Amin Mohamed Razali, the leader of the Al’Maunah group, was sent to the gallows in a prison in western Selangor state early Friday morning, the state Bernama news agency said.

An unnamed prison source was quoted as saying that Mohamed Amin had asked to meet his family before he died.

“He asked for the forgiveness of his family and wept,” the source was quoted as telling Bernama.

Mohamed Amin’s body was later claimed by his family and taken to his village in north-western Perak state, said Bernama.

The martial arts sect, which taught members they were invulnerable to bullets, sparked one of the country’s biggest security alerts in July 2000 when they disguised themselves as soldiers and stole more than 100 weapons from two military armouries.

They then retreated to a jungle hideout where they broadcast calls over army radio for Mahathir to quit.

The group surrendered after a four-day standoff with some 2,000 troops, during which they murdered a policeman and a soldier they had held hostage.

The formal charge against them was treason through waging war against the king, but the court was told that the sect planned a “holy war” to oust Mr Mahathir and set up an Islamic state.—AFP