KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 28 — The police confirmed that a man was arrested on suspicion of threatening and insulting Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim on Facebook.

Bukit Aman Criminal Investigation Department director Datuk Seri Mohd Shuhaily Mohd Zain said the 41-year-old local man was arrested at 3.20pm yesterday, at Taman Desa Budiman, Bedong, Kedah.

He said that the police received a report on the matter, and deployed a team of police officers from the Kuala Muda district police headquarters to arrest the man, who worked as a masseur.

"The suspect’s Facebook account, known as ‘JoeJebat Tajudin’, wrote the threatening message on Saturday (Aug 26),” he said at a special press conference in Bukit Aman, here today.

He said the man, who has three criminal records related to drug abuse, was remanded for four days, from today, to assist in the investigation of the case.

Meanwhile, when asked about the case of PAS president Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang who allegedly touched on the 3R issue (religion, royalty and race) in his recent speech in Johor, Mohd Shuhaily said that the police would summon Abdul Hadi in the near future to record his statement.

"The police have opened investigation papers under Section 4 (1) of the Sedition Act 1948 and Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998.

"PDRM has also contacted him (Hadi Awang) in relation to this case,” he said.

Johor police chief Datuk Kamarul Zaman Mamat today confirmed that police had investigated Abdul Hadi’s statement, which is believed to have disputed the authority of the Pardons Board, in his talk at PAS Bakri’s headquarters in Muar two days ago. — Bernama