Rural and Regional Development Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said today PKR vice-president Nurul Izzah Anwar could have committed treason for having met self-styled Sulu princess Jacel Kiram.

Nurul Izzah, by posing for a photograph with Jacel, had hurt the feelings of the people of Sabah and the next-of-kin of the soldiers and policemen killed in the battle with the Sulu invaders of the state two years ago, he said.

"I feel that meeting a member of a group that had declared war on Malaysia tantamounts to treason for which she can be prosecuted under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) and Penal Code for waging war against the Yang di-Pertuan Agong," he said.

Nurul Izzah was photographed posing with Jacel, daughter of self-styled Sulu Sultan Jamalul Kiram III, who had allegedly ordered the intrusion of Sabah at Lahad Datu in 2013.

Ismail Sabri said he hoped that the authorities would not regard the matter lightly. He spoke to reporters at a mass circumcision in his Bera parliamentary constituency organised by the Bera UMNO Youth.

Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi had said that the police would investigate Nurul Izzah's meeting with Jacel.

Nurul Izzah had expressed regret that the photograph had hurt the feelings of the families of victims of the Lahad Datu intrusion. She said she had not initiated the meeting with Jacel and the latter was not her acquaintance.

She claimed that Jacel was one of the 15 guests invited by her hosts – the Council on Philippine Affairs and the Asian Institute for Democracy, the Office of the Mayor of Manila and the Office of the Vice-President of the Philippines.

"Everyone present at the meeting took photographs with me in support of the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention's position, which was for Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to be immediately released," she said.