Malaysian police have detained a cartoonist and are investigating two lawmakers for sedition over tweets and a cartoon condemning the judiciary for dismissing opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim’s final appeal against a sodomy conviction.
Anwar began a 5-year jail sentence on Tuesday after the country’s top court ruled there was overwhelming evidence showing that he sodomised a former male aide in 2008.
Police detained cartoonist Zulkiflee Anwar Alhaque, better known as Zunar, at his home late on Tuesday over a series of tweets on Anwar’s case. A cartoon he posted on Twitter showed Prime Minister Najib Razak as the judge in Anwar’s case.
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National police chief Khalid Abu Bakar also directed his men to investigate opposition lawmakers Nga Kor Ming and Rafizi Ramli for sedition. Mr. Nga tweeted it was time for the people to oppose a cruel regime, while Mr. Rafizi tweeted a cartoon of a judge wearing a white wig with the dollar sign on it.
The police moves were criticised by rights groups, with Human Rights Watch saying it was shameful that Malaysian authorities had turned peaceful criticism into a criminal act.
“Clearly it is designed to intimidate and instil fear in people on social media to go silent on their views. It is a further erosion of freedom of expression in Malaysia,” said the group’s Asia deputy director Phil Robertson.
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