Artist Fahmi Reza to be charged in court over social media post

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 8 ― Artist Fahmi Reza will be charged at the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court this Thursday, according to a news report.

Speaking to Malaysiakini his lawyer Rajsurian Pillai confirmed the matter without specifying which offence that Fahmi will be charged with.

“(Fahmi will be charged) on Thursday at 9am (before) MSJ4/Siber (Sessions Criminal Court 4 for cyber jurisdiction),” the lawyer was quoted as saying in Malaysiakini.

On January 25, Bernama reported the graphic designer and activist was called to Bukit Aman to assist in investigations in connection with a social media post that allegedly depicted an edited image of the Pahang Coat of Arms with the words “House of Balak”. 

The post went viral on social media following the massive flooding in December last year, in which Pahang and Selangor were the two most badly hit states.

Bukit Aman Criminal Investigation Department (CID) director Datuk Seri Abdul Jalil Hassan, in a statement then said the activist was called to have his statement recorded at the Classified Criminal Investigation Unit, Prosecution/Legal Division of the CID.

* A previous version of this story contained an error which has since been corrected.