Malaysian court sends blogger to 6 months jail for criticising king

KUALA LUMPUR: An online technology news portal reporter was fined RM10,000 for posting two Twitter comments insulting the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.

Effi Nazrel Saharudin, 35, was ordered by Sessions Court judge Zulqarnain Hassan yesterday to serve six months’ jail if he failed to settle the fine.

He paid the fine after the proceedings with his father’s assistance.

Effi Nazrel, who is also a blogger, pleaded guilty to uploading the two comments to his Twitter account (at https://twitter.com/10befiend/status/340669427567697921 and https://twitter.com/10befiend/status/340669878656700418) with intent to annoy another person.

He committed the offences at his condominium unit in Taman Puncak Desa, Kepong, here between 11.21am and 11.23am on June 1 last year. He initially claimed trial to committing the offences when charged on June 5.

However, he changed his plea to guilty when the case came up for mention yesterday.

Effi Nazrel’s counsel, Syahredzan Johan, during mitigation, pleaded for a non-custodial sentence because his client’s wife had just given birth to a baby girl.

Syahredzan said Effi Nazrel used RM1,800 of his RM3,000 monthly salary on daily expenses, which now included baby care.

Deputy public prosecutor Nazrul Nizam Mohd Zameri urged the court to impose a deterrent fine to serve as a lesson not only to Effi Nazrel but also to the public to be careful when posting comments on social media.

Zulqarnain, after passing the sentence, ordered Nazrul Nizam to return Effi Nazrel’s modem-router and desktop, which were confiscated during investigation.