SUNGAI PETANI: A jobless man who was sentenced to jail and fine today for posting seditious remarks against the Sultan of Kedah Al Aminul Karim Sultan Sallehuddin Sultan Badlishah, has asked for the court to ban the media from covering his case.
Nor Ismail Amran Ghazilah, 42, made the plea to Magistrate M. Kalaiarasi after she passed down the sentence.
"I wish to ask the court to refrain the media representatives from reporting my case. Please tell them to delete my pictures. My case is just a small case," he told the court.
However, Kalaiarasi told the accused that the media was free to cover the proceeding, and the court did not have the authority to ban them from covering his case.
Earlier, Ismail pleaded guilty to publishing seditious remarks against Sultan Sallehuddin via TikTok, when the charge was read to him by the court interpreter.
The charge was framed under Section 4(1)(c) of the Sedition Act 1948, punishable under Subsection 4(1) of the same act and carries a maximum of three years imprisonment or RM5,000 fine or both upon conviction.
According to the charge, the accused had written: "Kedah state is stealing resources from the other states. The Sultan of Kedah is the real thief now. I dare the Istana Anak Bukit and I dare the Sultan of Kedah."
He had committed the offence around 10pm on July 7, 2024, in Sungai Petani.
Deputy Public Prosecutor S. Preeya prosecuted, while the accused was represented by counsel Farahdina Che Bakar from the National Legal Aid Foundation.
Preeya urged the court to impose a punitive punishment against the accused as he had committed a serious crime by posting seditious remarks against the royal institution.
"I urge the court to impose imprisonment punishment as a lesson to the accused so that he will be more careful in using social media applications in future," she said.
In mitigation, Farahdina pleaded for a lighter sentence as it was the accused's first offence, and said he was remorseful for his action.
"The accused is a contract worker and has been jobless for the past eight months. He is living with his old mother," she informed the court.
Despite his guilty plea, Ismail told the court that he did not intend to instigate hatred against the Sultan of Kedah.
"I did not commit any hatred speech. It was just a text. I did not expect someone would lodge a police report against me. I have since deleted the posting," he informed the court.
Kalaiarasi then sentenced the accused to one month in jail and ordered him to serve punishment from today. The court also fined him RM4,000 in lieu of eight months' jail.
Ismail responded by thanking the court as he was led out of the courtroom by policemen to the Pokok Sena Prison.