Man jailed four months for posting cartoon of Najib

PETALING JAYA (THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - A factory worker who posted a cartoon about Prime Minister Najib Razak was jailed four months by a magistrate's court here.

Mohamad Hamizan Ghazali's sentence is to run from the date of his arrest on Nov 12, 2017.

He pleaded guilty to uploading to his Facebook account the comic which had an obscene caption, deemed insulting to Datuk Seri Najib.

The man was accused of committing the offence at a home in Taman Paya Rumput Perdana, in Melaka, between Oct 20 and Oct 22.

However, he was charged in Petaling Jaya as the police report was filed here.

According to the facts of the case, the complainant was a member of the Friends of Umno Facebook group who alerted the police about the posting.

Mohamad Hamizan, who was unrepresented, pleaded for leniency as he had been held on remand for five days since last Sunday.

However, Deputy Public Prosecutor Abu Arsalnaa Zainal Abidin urged the court to hand down an exemplary sentence so that the accused would not repeat his mistake.

He said insulting people through social media was becoming a trend and a strong message needed to be sent to those who broke the law.

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