Cop gets 'clown Najib' artist Fahmi off Immigration blacklist

Fahmi Reza, the graphic artist behind the clown portrait of Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, said it was the police who helped secure his passage to Taiwan.

Fahmi had last week said that he was on the Immigration Department's blacklist, supposedly because he was a wanted person.

However, he said, a police officer he dubbed as "Inspector R" - who was said to have put him on the wanted list in the first place - helped to lift the travel ban.

He said the Bukit Aman officer had made sure that his name was no longer on the police Special Branch's wanted list and relayed this information to the Immigration Department.

"(Yesterday) he followed up with Immigration to make sure they got my name off their system," Fahmi wrote on his Facebook page.

He thanked Inspector R for acting professionally in dealing with him.

Fahmi is in Taiwan to speak on his work in protest art at an event organised by the Green Citizens' Action Alliance.

Last Thursday, he said Immigration officers had informed him that he was on their blacklist since March 2016.

Categorised as a 'wanted person'

He said checks with the case investigating officer at Bukit Aman showed that his name might have been blacklisted because he was categorised as a "wanted" person, when he was investigated under Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act for a Twitter posting that allegedly insulted the prime minister.

Fahmi said he subsequently made contact with Inspector R, who was said to have put him on the wanted list.

He said he had explained to the officer how he had already been probed on a similar case in February, and had flown from Thailand to Kuala Lumpur to give his statement.

He said after his explanation, Inspector R assured him that he would be taken off the list.

Fahmi was charged for the caricature of Najib at the Sessions Court in Ipoh on June 6. His case was later transferred to the Kuala Lumpur Cyber Court.

If convicted under Section 233 of the Act, the graphic designer can be fined up to RM50,000 or jailed up to a year or both.

Fahmi has since applied to the High Court to have the charge against him struck out on the grounds that his freedom of expression, as enshrined under the Federal Constitution, has been infringed.- Mkini