KUALA LUMPUR, May 23 — An unemployed man was sentenced to six months in prison by the Sessions Court here today after he pleaded guilty to three counts of insulting Prophet Muhammad on his Facebook account, two years ago.

Judge Siti Aminah Ghazali meted out the sentence on Lim Yu Hui, 29, after he made the confession to all three charges, and ordered him to serve a six-month prison sentence for each charge, to run concurrently, from today.

According to the first to third charges, Lim was accused of knowingly uploading three nasty comments on Facebook, through the "Halloween Day” account, with intention to hurt others, at a workshop in Jalan Cecily, Sandakan, Sabah, between 9.24am and 9.30am, on September 18, 2022.

All the posts were read at a residential unit in Pantai Sentral, here, at 10am on the same date.

The charges were framed under Section 233 (1) (a) of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998, and can be punished according to Section 233 (3) of the same law, which provides for a maximum fine of RM50,000 or imprisonment for up to one year, or both, and shall be liable to a further fine of RM1,000 for every day during which the offence is continued after conviction, if found guilty.

Deputy public prosecutor Faten Hadni Khairuddin pressed for a commensurate punishment following the three posts made by the accused, which were done deliberately in a consecutive period with the intention of hurting others.

However, Lim, who was not represented by a lawyer, appealed that he be sentenced to prison on the grounds that he could not afford to pay the fine, as he had just been dismissed following the case he was facing.

"I regret my actions,” he said. — Bernama