A shoe shop assistant was fined a total of RM3,500 and ordered jailed for one day by the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court today on three counts of improper use of the network service by editing and transmitting offensive images of Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak purportedly with a woman dressed in revealing clothes, through Facebook.

Judge Zaman Mohd Noor handed down the sentence on Muhammad Zaidi Abdullah, 40, after the man pleaded guilty to the charges.

The man had pleaded not guilty to the charges last June 16, but changed his plea today, when the case came up for mention.

He was charged with committing the three offences through his Facebook account, 'Zaidi Zura' at 4.07am, 6.31pm and 7.35pm on Dec 3, 5 and 6, 2016.

The offensive postings were read at an address, No. A-1110, Tingkat 11, Menara A, Pandan Kapital, Jalan Pandan Utama, Pandan Indah here at 5pm on Jan 3, 2017.

For the first and second charges, Muhammad Zaidi was fined RM1,000 each, in default one month jail, while for the third count, he was fined RM1,500, in default two months’ jail, and one day jail.

Zaman, when handing down the sentence, said the court took into consideration public interest and also apology by the accused, who had no previous record.

Earlier, deputy public prosecutor from the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission, Mohd Sophian Zakaria requested the court to impose a prison sentence to instil fear among the public, especially netizens, of the law.

“The culture of insulting and making offensive comments has become a norm in cyber space and it is the duty of the court to mete out a sentence to show its seriousness so that such an incident will not happen again,” he said.

Lawyer Adlizan Noor represented Muhammad Zaidi.

Muhammad Zaidi, who was accompanied by his wife, paid the fine.

--Bernama