KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia police have barred all visits to Ahmed Abd Jalil, who was detained last Friday for reportedly insulting the Sultan of Johor on Facebook. Police have, however, told reporters that they have reassured the family that he would not be taken to the palace to make an official apology. The young man's father told The Malaysian Insider on Sunday evening that he hopes the police will uphold their statement. Police have said that the man is currently in good health and has not been harmed. The 27-year-old quantity surveyor was arrested on Friday and is now facing the Johor police for allegedly writing seditious comments against the Johor Sultan and his family. Local reports said that Ahmad Abd Jalil was detained by a group of plainclothes policemen at his office in Cheras before he was taken, along with his hard drive and office computer, to the Wangsa Maju police station for questioning. According to the man's lawyer Mohd Zakwan Adenan, Jalil was at first not informed of his crime, except that he was allegedly being investigated under Section 4(1) of the Sedition Act 1948. “He was questioned there until around 11.30pm before the police brought him to his house," The Malaysian Insider reported. “They said they wanted to charge him under the Sedition Act for remarks he made on Facebook but when we asked the police which statement they were referring to, they could not answer. “The police only said they'd received a number of reports on the issue from the Johor Baru district police... and that is why the cops from Johor had come along," he said. Section 4(1) stipulates that any person who utters, prints or publishes any seditious words, on conviction, would be liable for a first offence to a fine not exceeding RM5,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years or to both. It is not the first time in recent months that postings on social media websites have sparked the ire of the government. In August, Malaysia's High Court on Friday sentenced blogger Amizudin Ahmat to three months in jail after finding him “guilty of contempt of court by further publishing 11 articles defaming" Information, Communications and Culture Minister Rais Yatim. Judge Datin Zabariah Mohd Yusof, in her ruling, reportedly said that Ahmat had “breached a court order prohibiting him from publishing such articles on Rais in his blog." “This is a serious contempt case. The court imposes a custodial order of three months jail, effective today," she added. After the judge read her ruling, the blogger, who was outside the dock, rose and said: “I admit my mistakes. I apologize. I don't understand." To this, Yusuf said that had Ahmat not understood the court order, he should have asked his lawyer for clarification. On November 21 last year, Rais, 70, was granted leave to commence committal proceedings against the blogger in relation to a suit he had filed. On July 19 last year, Rais won his suit and the blogger was ordered by the High Court to pay RM300,000 in damages and RM100,000 in costs to the minister. Rais filed the suit on January 31, 2011, against Amizudin, 42, who is a Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) Youth Committee member, for defamation over an article posted on the latter's blogsite, sharpshooterblogger.blogspot.com, around December 28, 2010. Activists and fellow bloggers lashed out at the ruling, saying it was another sign that freedom of speech in Malaysia is taking a massive hit. “What are we to do if we cannot say what we want and when we want. This is the worst thing for Malaysia because it gives people the chance to take to court anyone they disagree with and charge defamation," one blogger told Bikyamasr.com. Local and international rights groups have long lamented the current state of freedom of speech in the Southeast Asian country and have called on the government to end its crackdowns on bloggers and netizens.
