JOHOR BARU, April 29 ― Kuantan MP Fuziah Salleh pleaded not guilty at the Magistrates' Court here today to a charge of making a statement on Facebook that could cause public outrage.
Fuziah was charged under Section 505 (b) of the Penal Code with circulating any statement, rumour or report with intent to cause fear or alarm to the public.
She made the plea after the charge was read out to her by an interpreter before Magistrate R. Salini.
The former deputy minister in the Prime Minister’s Department was accused of committing the offence at Jalan Tasek Utara Kuarters, Taman Imigresen at about 10pm on April 9 when she allegedly released a statement on a Facebook account under the name "Fuziah Salleh" with the link https://www.facebook.com/
She faces a maximum sentence of two years' imprisonment or a fine or both, if convicted.
Deputy public prosecutor Nor Azizah Mohamad prosecuted while Fuziah was represented by counsels Hassan Karim and John Fernandez.
The court set bail at RM3,000 with one surety and June 16 for case mention.
Earlier, Hassan appealed and asked for his client to be released on grounds that she had not been given prior notice of the charge under Section 505 (b) of the Penal Code.
He claimed that Fuziah was taken by surprise for not being informed of the charge.
However, Nor Azizah in her submission said the suit had been handed over personally to Fuziah in Kuantan yesterday, where the contents stated that the accused had to answer a charge against her under the particular section of the Penal Code.
On April 9, Fuziah had allegedly posted a video on her Facebook page depicting pandemonium at the Bangunan Sultan Iskandar Customs, Immigration and Quarantine Complex (CIQ) here during the movement control order.
Police later confirmed that the video footage was actually that of a fire drill held in the CIQ facility last year.
