KUALA LUMPUR, June 4 — Graphic artist Fahmi Reza has been detained by police under the Sedition Act 1948 for selling #KitaSemuaPenghasut T-shirts.
He is currently being questioned at the Sentul district police headquarters.
Fahmi said he was approached by five to six police officers while at the Art for Grabs event at the Publika mall here earlier this evening.
“They took my identity card, 2 Penghasut T-shirts from my bag and a poster of a painting of a clown. According to the police, I am being investigated under the Sedition Act,” he said in Malay on his Facebook page.
Gerakan Hapus Akta Hasutan (GHAH) and Suaram coordinator Amir Abdul Hadi confirmed that Fahmi and three others were taken in for questioning.
They are: Art For Grabs organiser Pang Khee Teik, activist Lew Pik-Svonn and artist Arif Rafhan Othman.
Amir said lawyers are being contacted to represent the four.
In another Facebook post earlier today, Fahmi said he presented one of the controversial T-shirt to former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad who was at the same event for a book launch.
Fahmi added that he also gave Dr Mahathir a copy of his colouring book titled “ABC Politikus Malaysia” that features a likeness of the 90-year-old under the letter “D”, for “Diktator”.
Malay Mail Online understands that lawyers Eric Paulsen and Melissa Sasidaran of Lawyers for Liberty are with the group during their police questioning.
Fahmi is no stranger to controversy. Just yesterday, he received two court summonses and is expected to be slapped with two charges under Section 233(1)(a) of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998.
The first for using his Instagram account to post an edited image of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak in clown makeup with the intention of offending others on January 31 and a second charge for allegedly intentionally posting a fake Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) poster bearing the same image on his Facebook page on February 8.
For the first charge, Fahmi is to appear at the Sessions Court here next Monday. His second charge has been set for June 10 at the Ipoh Sessions Court.
