In an interview with FMT, the internationally recognised cartoonist said the lawsuit was with regard to his arrest late last month.

“It was a private crowd funding event, but the police came and arrested me along with two of my friends and my assistants.

“They also confiscated 1,300 books, involving 12 titles, and 100 T-shirts that were meant to be sold that day.

“They used Section 124 of the Penal Code against me and I believe that was done in bad faith,” he said.

Section 124 refers to activities that are detrimental to parliamentary democracy, a provision which Zunar said was absurd as all he did was draw cartoons.

This, he said, was the reason he planned to take the police to court in the hope that the judiciary would declare the police action illegal and order them to return his artwork.

“This will be my second legal action against the police. The first was after my first arrest back in 2010.

“In that case, the court found the police guilty of ruining my original artwork and ordered them to pay me damages.

“But we disagreed on the amount, so we’re going back to court on Feb 16 for this purpose.”

The lawsuit, he explained, was not about money or other personal reasons, but to create awareness among ordinary citizens.

“It is very difficult for me to win, but it’s very important for me to file the suit because it can create awareness. If I don’t win, that’s okay.

“But at least the people will know that this is the situation in our country. We can’t even draw cartoons anymore.”

Zunar faces nine charges of sedition for remarks he made on Twitter, criticising a court’s decision to jail former opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim last year.

If convicted on all the charges, Zunar risks a maximum sentence of 43 years in prison under the Sedition Act.

He has, however, filed a suit challenging the constitutionality of the law. Hearing will begin on Jan 24, according to a statement he released in November last year.