52-year-old man arrested for insulting Hindu faith
KUALA LUMPUR: A 52-year-old man has been arrested in Malaysia for allegedly posting an offensive Facebook comment about the Hindu faith. This comes after a spate of arrests over social media postings allegedly insulting Islam and Prophet Muhammad.
According to the reports, one person, identified as 52-year-old Facebook user “Zamri Bin Abd Razak”, arrested for anti-religious activity and misusing communication networks to degrade Hindu faith.
Inspector-general of police Mohamad Fuzi Harun said in a statement this morning that the suspect has been detained under Section 298A of the Penal Code (which pertains to any act prejudicial to the maintenance of harmony between different religious or racial groups, and which disturbs, or is likely to disturb the public tranquillity), and Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1988.
“A remand order against the suspect will be sought today,” Fuzi said.
He further warned all quarters against using social media or any other communication channels to upload or share racially provocative statements that could jeopardise racial relations and harmony in the country.
Yesterday, the Sessions Court in Kuala Lumpur sentenced an unemployed man to seven months’ jail and fined him RM10,000, or in default two months’ jail, for having insulted Islam and Prophet Muhammad in a post on his Facebook account last month.
Last Friday, a Sarawakian was jailed for 10 years and 10 months after he pleaded guilty to insulting Islam and Prophet Muhammad, also via Facebook.
