KUALA LUMPUR: The Sessions Court here yesterday sentenced opposition activist Adam Adli Abd Halim to 12 months’ jail after finding him guilty of making a speech of a seditious nature at a talk in May last year.
Judge Mat Ghani Abdullah made the decision after finding that the defence had failed to cast reasonable doubts on the prosecution’s case at the end of the defence case.
In his judgment, he said the defence by the accused was merely a denial.
However, Counsel Latheefa Koya requested for a stay of the sentence pending appeal to the High Court.
Mat Ghani allowed the stay and retained the RM5,000 bail in one surety imposed on the accused.
Adam Adli, 26, a former
student of Universiti Perguruan Sultan Idris and now a law student at a private college, was charged with uttering seditious words to incite the people to unlawfully change a legitimately elected government.
He was alleged to have committed the offence at the Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall at No.1, Jalan Maharajalela, Dang Wangi here between 8.55pm and 11.15pm on May 13, 2013.
The charge, under Section 4(1)(b) of the Sedition Act 1948 and punishable under Section 4(1) of the same act, provides for a maximum fine of RM5,000 or imprisonment of up to five years upon conviction.
Earlier, during mitigation, Latheefa requested the court to impose a fine on her client as the punishment for the offence stated fine or jail and not vice versa.
She also said that her client was still young and studying and his action did not involve violence.
However, deputy public prosecutor Mohamad Abazafree Mohd Abbas, who prosecuted, objected, saying that although the provision in the law mentioned fine first, the court could still impose the jail sentence. — Bernama