Judge Ahmad Zamzani Mohd Zain gave Hassan, who is the Johor PKR chairman, a discharge not amounting to an acquittal, which technically means he could be charged again.

His lawyer Eric Paulsen had urged the court to give his client an outright acquittal.

“An acquittal is appropriate since Attorney-General Tommy Thomas has accepted our representation to drop the charges,” said Paulsen.

Deputy public prosecutor Naliatul Husaimi Ab Rasip, however, left it to the discretion of the court.

Hassan was charged under Section 4(1)(c) of the Sedition Act 1948 over three tweets criticising the Selangor Sultan over the 2014 menteri besar crisis.

He had also claimed trial to three alternative charges under Section 233(1)(a) of the Multimedia and Communications Act 1998 over the tweets.

Hassan is accused of having criticised the Sultan on his Twitter account @hakarim51 for being abroad during the crisis.

Malay right-wing group Perkasa member Muhamed Durrany Izam lodged a report over the tweets.

The prosecution had called two witnesses but the defence wrote to the AG to withdraw the charges on June 27.

“We received a reply three days ago that the representation is allowed,” said Paulsen.

In the recent general election, Hassan defeated Johor Barisan Nasional chief Mohamed Khaled Nordin and PAS’ Ab Aziz Abdullah, winning by a majority of 24,726 votes.