Man jailed 7 months for insulting Islam, Prophet

Last week, another man in Sarawak was jailed 10 years and 10 months by the Kuching Sessions Court for the same offence.

(FMT) – The Sessions Court here has sentenced a man to seven months’ jail and fined him RM10,000 for insulting Prophet Muhammad and Islam on social media.

Judge Hasbullah Adam handed down the sentence to Mohamad Yazid Kong Abdullah, who pleaded guilty last Friday to the charge under Section 233 (1)(a) of the Communications and Multimedia Act (CMA).

“The offence you committed is serious because you are challenging Islam, the religion of the Federal Constitution,” he said.

If Yazid could not settle the fine, he added, he would have to serve an additional two months in jail.

Yazid was accused of making three Facebook posts on Feb 24 that insulted Islam and the Prophet. The posts were read by one Mohd Saifuddin Mustaffa on March 1. Saifuddin subsequently lodged a report at the Wangsa Maju police station.

Yazid was arrested at his home on March 4. The police also seized his mobile phone and WiFi modems.

Yazid’s lawyer Syafiq Salleh pleaded for leniency, saying his client was a first-time offender who had a wife and a young child to support.

“He converted to Islam when he married, but he did not have any guidance from the relevant parties on the religion,” he said.

He added that Yazid would apologise to the public for his actions.

However, deputy public prosecutor Muhamad Asyraf Md Kamal urged the court to impose a deterrent sentence on grounds that insulting a religion is a serious offence.

“His Facebook statuses have caused anger towards the Muslim community here,” he said, adding that the prosecution was seeking an eight-month jail sentence and RM40,000 fine on Yazid.

Last week, another man in Sarawak was jailed 10 years and 10 months by the Kuching Sessions Court for the same offence.

Alister Cogia pleaded guilty to all 10 charges against him.

Another man was charged at the Sessions Court here last month with insulting Islam and the Prophet through a cartoon image on his Facebook page.