Zunar, Surendran and Sivarasa acquitted and discharged of all sedition charges

KUALA LUMPUR: Cartoonist Zunar whose real name is Zulkiflee Anwar Haque, lawyer N. Surendran and Sungai Buloh MP R. Sivarasa have been acquitted and discharged of all charges under the Sedition Act.

Zunar, 56, and Surendran, 52, were freed by Sessions Court judge Zamri Bakar while Sivarasa, 62, was acquitted by judge Dr Gan Chee Keong in another Sessions Court after the prosecution withdrew charges against them on Monday (July 30).

Zunar and Sivarasa were represented by Surendran while counsel Latheefa Koya acted for Surendran.

Noor Jazilah Mohd Yushaa, Norinna Bahadun, Zaki Asyraf Zubir and Faizah Mohd Salleh were the deputy public prosecutors.

On Apr 3, 2015, Zunar pleaded not guilty to nine charges of sedition for allegedly insulting the judiciary in tweets made in relation to Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's conviction in the Sodomy 2 case.

In Surendran's case, he claimed trial on Aug 19, 2014 to releasing a press statement entitled "Court of Appeal's Fitnah 2 written judgement is flawed, defensive and insupportable".

Sivarasa also claimed trial on Oct 20, 2015, to uttering seditious words at the #KitaLawan illegal rally at the Kuala Lumpur City Centre compound at about 5.20pm on March 7.

Zunar and Surendran were charged under Section 4(1)(b) of the Sedition Act while Sivarasa was charged under Section 4(1)(c) of the Act.