In a statement, it said the caricature was a “classic example” of political comment or satire, which falls under the right to freedom of expression enshrined in the Federal Constitution.
“It is the very nature of political caricature to tell hard-hitting truths about a political situation or issue. And naturally, it will be offensive to the person who is the target of the caricature,” said LFL adviser N Surendran.
Adding that the court’s decision was both surprising and disappointing, he said it also contravened Article 10 (1)(a) of the Federal Constitution which guarantees freedom of speech and expression.
“The decision fails to give effect to the public’s basic right to criticise or comment on political matters through pictorial representations or images or caricatures.”
Judicial commissioner Mohd Radzi Harun yesterday ruled that the prosecution had established the facts as provided under Section 233(1)(a) of the Communications and Multimedia Act (CMA) 1998.
He said Fahmi’s earlier conviction by the Sessions Court was right in law although he reduced the RM30,000 fine to RM10,000 in default of a month’s jail.
However, Surendran said the decision had rendered ineffective the constitutional freedom of Fahmi as well as all Malaysians to criticise or comment on political matters.
“As a result of this decision, henceforth are Malaysians committing a crime if they publish political caricatures?”
He also hit out at Radzi for saying Fahmi had forgotten his “manners as a Malay”, saying it was not the purpose of criminal law to punish citizens for bad manners.
He questioned the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) for pursuing prosecution of Fahmi under the CMA when the Pakatan Harapan government had promised to repeal the act.
In doing so, he said, MCMC and the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) had “miserably failed” both Fahmi and the public by “pursuing this anti-democratic prosecution carried over from the Barisan Nasional era”.
He urged the government to impose an immediate moratorium on all investigations and pending prosecutions under Section 233 of the CMA pending repeal or amendment, and called on MCMC and the AGC to assure the public that they would not oppose Fahmi’s expected appeal of the conviction.