Four charged with insulting Ali Rustam after weightlifting tweet

 

Four individuals were charged at the Malacca Sessions Court this morning for insulting state governor Mohd Ali Rustam over the latter’s Twitter post of his visit to Kesang Tua, where Filipino Olympic gold medalist weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz had trained.

Mohd Hermy Rahim, Muhd Ali Aswad Asngadu, Mohd Hafizuddin Rahmad, and Ahmad Zaki Yamani Zainon were charged under Section 233(1)(a) of the Communication and Multimedia Act 1998, for spreading offensive content online.

The charges were read before judge Maziah Joary Mohd Tajudin by deputy public prosecutor N Sivashangary.

All four accused were later released on bail with a bond of RM5,000 after pleas from the defence lawyers to lower the initial amount of RM15,000.

Three of them - Hermy, Aswad, and Hafizuddin - were represented by lawyers from Purshotaman and Partners, which were appointed by Gerakan Guaman Rakyat (Gegar) on a pro bono basis; while Zaki had appointed his own lawyer.

Speaking to Malaysiakini, Gegar spokesperson Muhd Azha Salahudin said his organisation provides free legal services to the public and aims to ensure the public is educated on their basic rights under the legal system.

“This is our main mission to ensure justice is served for all parties,” Azha said.

All four accused were ordered to report to their nearest police station on the first day of every month until the next mention of their cases on Sept 22.

“The judge also ordered our clients not to disturb or communicate with any of the witnesses in court today,” lead lawyer P Purshotaman said via a representative from Gegar.

If they are found guilty, they can be fined up to RM50,000, or jailed up to one year, or both.

Last week, several individuals were investigated for sedition over comments on Ali Rustam’s visit to the house where Diaz trained during the first lockdown last year. 

The trigger for the probe was a single tweet by one Azfarul Naim, otherwise known as @FvgTitan on Twitter, which was merely captioned with three question marks - ‘???’ - Mkini