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Friday May 10, 2024

Malaysian artist jailed for clown caricature of PM

By AFP
February 21, 2018

KUALA LUMPUR: A Malaysian artist was jailed for a month Tuesday for publishing a caricature of scandal-plagued Prime Minister Najib Razak looking like a clown, the latest government critic to be imprisoned. Fahmi Reza’s picture of the premier wearing powder-white clown make-up, with evilly arched eyebrows and blood-red lips, went viral and the image was widely used in demonstrations against Najib. His lawyer Syahredzan Johan said Fahmi, 40, was jailed and fined 30,000 ringgit ($7,700) by a court in the northern city of Ipoh after being found guilty of breaching laws that ban the spreading online of content that is deemed offensive. “We are certainly appealing and are disappointed by the decision,” Syahredzan told AFP.