SHAH ALAM, July 27 ― The Sessions Court here today granted a discharge not amounting to an acquittal to Pasir Gudang Member of Parliament Hassan Abdul Karim on three counts of sedition over postings on his Twitter account.

Judge Datuk Ahmad Zamzani Mohd Zain handed down the decision after deputy public prosecutor Naliatul Huzaimi Ab. Rasip informed the court that the prosecution was withdrawing all the charges against Hassan, 67.

Naliatul Huzaimi said this followed a representation by the defence and was accepted by the Attorney-General (AG).

Earlier, lawyer Eric Paulsen, representing Hassan, urged the court to grant an outright acquittal for his client since the AG had accepted their representation.

Hassan was charged with three counts of sedition over tweets which criticised the Sultan of Selangor during the 2014 Selangor mentri besar crisis.

Two of the charges were for tweets on his Twitter account, @Hakarim51, and the third at the Twitter account of @zunarkartunis.

The charges were made under Section 4(1)(c) of the Sedition Act 1948.

He had also claimed trial to three alternative charges under Section 233(1)(a) of the Multimedia and Communications Act 1998 over the tweets for knowingly using the network facility to transmit a communication to annoy others.

The prosecution had called two witnesses, when the defence sent a representation to the AG. ― Bernama