Fahmi Reza detained over satirical ape cartoon posting

SHAH ALAM – Graphic artist and activist Fahmi Reza has been arrested by the police again, this time over a drawing depicting an ape in headgear and yellow attire resembling that worn by royalty

The artwork was uploaded on his Facebook account 'Fahmi Reza' on Wednesday.

Bukit Aman Criminal Investigation Department (CID) director Datuk Seri Abd Jalil Hassan confirmed that Fahmi was arrested at the Dang Wangi District police headquarters, this afternoon.

He said police will be applying for a remand order against Fahmi in court tomorrow.

The investigation, Abd Jalil said is being carried out under Section 4(1) of the Sedition Act 1948 for seditious tendency and Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 for improper use of network facilities or network services.

"The post received 12,000 responses, 3,400 comments and 966 shares since it was uploaded which had incited anger of social media users who described it as outrageous,” he said in a statement on Thursday.

He advised the public to not make any speculations on the case as investigations were still ongoing.

He also advised the public to be cognisant of issues that touched upon the royal institution as well as race and religion sensitivities.

Meanwhile, in a follow up tweet, Fahmi wrote that police had opened investigation papers against him less than 15 hours after he posted the drawing.