Malaysia drops sedition case against political cartoonist
Zunar routinely poked fun at former PM Najib Razak, who is accused of using draconian laws to try to silence his critic
A Malaysian political cartoonist said on Monday that nine sedition charges against him had been dropped after the scandal-mired government that he frequently lampooned was booted out of power.
Zulkifli Anwar Ulhaque – who goes by the pen-name Zunar – was repeatedly targeted under the former government for his cartoons, which often mocked ex-prime minister Najib Razak and his luxury-loving wife. Some of his collections were banned.
He was hit with nine counts of sedition in 2015, stemming not from his artistic work but Twitter criticism about the jailing of then-opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim.
It was a record number for a single court appearance in Malaysia, according to his lawyers.
But at a hearing in Kuala Lumpur on Monday, prosecutors said the attorney general’s office had decided it does not want to pursue the case and was withdrawing the charges against him, the cartoonist confirmed.
Zunar, whose cartoons are published by leading news portal Malaysiakini, said he was happy with the decision, but would not be “absolutely happy until the government abolishes the Sedition Act”.