Malaysian Woman Sentenced to 5 Months + 22 Days for “Insulting Islam”

Christof Lehmann (nsnbc) : Vivian Lee, the former girlfriend of Malaysian blogger Alvin Tan, was sentenced to 5 months and 22 days in prison for posting what the Sessions Court perceived as “offensive and insulting to Muslims” on her Facebook account.

Vivian Lee_MalaysiaThe judge who handed down the verdict on the 27-year-old Lee May Ling was judge Abdul Rashid Daud after he found that the prosecution had succeeded in proving the case against her. The prosecutor demanded “a severe sentence” for insulting Islam and Muslims. Malaysian and international human rights and free speech advocates would note that the office of the prosecutor and judge Abdul Rashid Daud had insulted Islam and the principle of tolerance, as well as Lee May Ming’s human rights.

The 27-year-old “criminal” will eventually only have to spend eight more days in jail. That is, thanks to her lawyer Chong Joo Tian, who reminded judge Abdul Rashid about the time Vivian Lee already had spent behind bars while she was on remand.

The judge also allowed a stay of sentence pending an appeal at the High Court. However, he increased Lee’s bail from RM10,000 to RM20,000 and ordered lee to hand her passport to the court.

Judge Abdul Rashid attempted t justify his ruling by stating that Lee was a knowable and educated person and be able to consider the sensitivity of the Muslims before posting a picture of her and Tan Alvin with the caption “Selamat Berbuka Puasa” (with Bak Kut Teh,.. fragrant, delicious, appetizing) on her Facebook.

The ruling of Vivian Lee is particularly “revealing” and is setting a dangerous precedence because both the prosecution and the judge went after “the female sex blogger” using “religious” arguments for prosecuting and sentencing her under Section 4(1)(c) of the Sedition Act 1948. The act provides a fine of RM5,000, or three months imprisonment, or both, if found guilty.

One can only speculate whether the judge would hand a similar sentence to someone who posts a photo of a dentist because it insults all those who believe in the tooth fairy.

Prosecutor Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin had demanded between 20 and 24 month for Vivian Lee’s “crime”. The court agreed with the prosecution that Lee’s actions were damaging, even though she had apologized. The thought that creating a culture of religious self-righteousness and intolerance in Malaysia that would make Lee feel that she had to “apologize” for making use of her human rights of free expression apparently did not cross the minds of the prosecutor and the judge.

Lee and her ex boyfriend Tan were jointly charged with committing “the offence” at 9 a.m. on July 13, 2013. Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin, said the prosecution against Tan would continue although Tan was no longer in the country. He urged the police to expedite the process of bringing Tan, whose full name is Tan Jye Yee, back to Malaysia for the trial. The entire affair has widely been denounced as an attempt to silence an “inconvenient” blogger and his girlfriend and as part of an ongoing crack-down of free expression and independent media in the country.

CH/L – nsnbc 27.06.2015

Source Article from http://nsnbc.me/2016/05/27/malaysian-woman-sentenced-to-5-months-22-days-for-insulting-islam/

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