PETALING JAYA: The woman charged with allegedly insulting Islam during a stand-up comedy performance is expected to post bail tomorrow morning with money raised through crowdfunding.
Her lawyer, R Sivaraj, said donations from the public have been pouring in, with some offering to foot Siti Nuramira Abdullah’s legal fees.
“As of this morning, about RM15,000 has been collected and we expect it to hit the RM20,000 target for her bail by the end of the day,” he told FMT.
He added that his team had also been contacted by donors from around the world interested in making donations towards Siti Nuramira’s legal battle.
Sivaraj said the bail was expected to be posted tomorrow at 9am, adding that the intention is to refund the crowdfunded money once his client’s case is completed and the bail money is released by the court.
On Friday, Sivaraj announced that rights group Lawyers for Liberty (LFL) would be helping Siti Nuramira and her partner, Alexander Navin Vijayachandran, to raise the necessary funds for their bail via crowdfunding using LFL’s bank account.
On Wednesday, Siti Nuramira pleaded not guilty to a charge under Section 298A of the Penal Code for causing disharmony among the Muslim community during her performance at the Crackhouse Comedy Club in Taman Tun Dr Ismail on June 4.
Sessions court judge Siti Aminah Ghazali granted Siti Nuramira bail of RM20,000 in one surety and also warned her not to comment on the case.
On the same day, Navin, 38, pleaded not guilty to two counts of uploading insulting content on social media.
On the first count, Navin was accused of sharing a posting on his Instagram account on June 5 with the intention to insult other people. The second charge said he allegedly shared content via his YouTube account on June 16 with the intention of insulting others.
Sessions court judge Azrul Darus allowed Navin bail of RM20,000 in one surety and fixed Sept 1 for case mention.