A Malaysian political cartoonist said on Monday that nine sedition charges against him had been dropped after ousting a scandal-ridden government he often ridiculed.
Zulkifli Anwar Ulhaque – who goes by the pseudonym Zunar – was repeatedly targeted by the previous government for his cartoons, by which he often mocked former prime minister Najib Razak and his luxury-loving wife. Some of his collections were banned.
In 2015, he was charged with nine counts of sedition, based not on his artistic work but on his Twitter criticism of the imprisonment of then opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim.
According to his lawyers, this was a record number for a single court appearance in Malaysia.
However, at Monday’s hearing in Kuala Lumpur, prosecutors said the attorney general’s office had decided it didn’t wish to pursue the case and was withdrawing the fees against him, the cartoonist confirmed.
Zunar, whose cartoons are published by leading news website Malaysiakini, said he was glad with the choice but wouldn’t be “completely glad until the federal government abolishes the Sedition Act”.
Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch, wrote on Twitter that Zunar’s acquittal was “improbable news” and likewise called on authorities to repeal the sedition law.
The Sedition Act, a relic of the British colonial era, was one in every of several laws that critics say served to suppress free speech during Najib’s rule.
Dozens of presidency critics, including opposition politicians, activists and journalists, have been arrested on charges of subversion or other provisions.
Najib launched a brutal crackdown on opponents following accusations that he and his cronies oversaw the looting of sovereign wealth fund 1MDB in a classy fraud that spread world wide.
The scandal was a serious reason for the electoral defeat of his coalition, which had constantly ruled Malaysia since independence from Britain in 1957 in May.
Since his defeat, Najib has faced corruption charges related to the multibillion-dollar 1MDB controversy. He denies any misconduct.
This article appeared within the print edition of the South China Morning Post as: A sedition case against a political cartoonist has been dropped
