Trio acquitted and discharged of all charges said to be politically motivated.
Political cartoonist Zunar whose real name is Zulkiflee Anwar Haque, civil rights lawyer N Surendran and Sungai Buloh MP R Sivarasa have been acquitted and discharged of all charges under the Sedition Act that have shadowed them the past few years.
Zunar, 56, and Surendran, 52, were freed by Sessions Court judge Zamri Bakar while Sivarasa, 62, was acquitted by judge Dr Gan Chee Keong in another Sessions Court after the prosecution withdrew charges against them on Monday (July 30).
Zunar and Sivarasa were represented by Surendran while counsel Latheefa Koya acted for Surendran, who now advises the Lawyers for Liberty group.
Noor Jazilah Mohd Yushaa, Norinna Bahadun, Zaki Asyraf Zubir and Faizah Mohd Salleh were the deputy public prosecutors.
On Apr 3, 2015, Zunar pleaded not guilty to nine charges of sedition for allegedly insulting the judiciary in tweets made in relation to Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s conviction in the Sodomy 2 case.
In Surendran’s case, he claimed trial on Aug 19, 2014, to releasing a press statement entitled “Court of Appeal’s Fitnah 2 written judgement is flawed, defensive and insupportable”.
Sivarasa also claimed trial on Oct 20, 2015, to uttering seditious words at the #KitaLawan rally at the Kuala Lumpur City Centre compound at about 5.20pm on March 7.
He was said to have criticised the judiciary over Anwar’s imprisonment for sodomy.
Zunar and Surendran were charged under Section 4(1)(b) of the Sedition Act while Sivarasa, now a deputy rural development minister in the Pakatan Harapan federal government, was charged under Section 4(1)(c) of the Act.
“The charge against me was only politically motivated. I did not commit any crime. So I am glad about the acquittal.
“Under the Pakatan Harapan government, we are entering the new era of real democracy…in a few months, we will see the Sedition Act abolished,” Sivarasa was quoted telling reporters outside the courtroom.
Last month, Sivarasa was acquitted of two counts of abusing the Internet to smear the image of former prime minister Najib Razak.
He was charged in April 2016 with two counts of posting on his Facebook account the month before a doctored Time magazine cover which featured Najib with the words “No. 2 on the most corrupt list”.
Sivarasa removed the post the same day after learning that it was a fake.
“The previous Barisan Nasional government used the prosecution to file charges for criticising the judiciary,” he said, adding that he was relieved there were no more charges hanging over him.