Under defamation laws, SN Nair said, what is said or expressed through innuendo or insinuation is counted as defamatory.

Tan Tee Beng, PKR’s former MP for Nibong Tebal, had questioned Lim’s son for wearing a designer jacket in the hot weather while DAP grassroots members were busy selling the party newsletter, The Rocket.

He also shared a picture of Lim and his family on a flight to Australia, for which social media users had praised Lim for travelling in economy class. In that picture, Lim’s son was seen wearing what appeared to be a Givenchy jacket.

It was accompanied by a screenshot from an online designer clothing shop which put the Givenchy jacket at £1,180 (RM6,208). However, it is not known if the jacket worn by Lim’s son was a Givenchy.

Nair told FMT that Tan’s post could be defamatory by means of innuendo as he was “implying and imputing” that Lim’s son was wearing an expensive designer jacket while Lim and his family were flying in economy class.

He said this could lead to public perception that Lim was portraying a “political farce” and being pretentious.

While defamatory words are typically written or spoken in direct reference to a person, he said, indirect defamatory words usually constitute oblique or suggestive terms through the use of pictures or words to insinuate that a person is of bad character.

In order to constitute defamation, he added, the remarks whether direct or indirect must be published somewhere.

“Based on the Facebook post that I saw, he (Tan) appears to be trying to imply that Lim’s son was wearing an expensive designer jacket without confirming if it was a genuine Givenchy or an imitation.

“He did so without verification and, giving it an expensive price tag, he proceeded to publish it on Facebook.”

Nair said this could fall under the second category of defamation by innuendo.

Tan, who has labelled the police investigation against him as a form of “political revenge”, claimed he was being politically persecuted after the authorities recorded his statement and seized his mobile phone.

He also denied that his post was defamatory, saying he had not accused Lim or his son of impropriety but was merely speaking out for the “DAP grassroots”.

Nair said the police were obliged to investigate any report lodged against an individual.

Lawyers for Liberty executive director Latheefa Koya, however, said the police action was unnecessary and questioned the motives behind the investigation into Tan’s Facebook post.

“There is no criminal offence here. Why are the police investigating? This is a gross abuse of police powers,” she said.

Lawyer-activist Fadiah Nadwa Fikri said all Malaysians had the right to question people in power and those related to them.

She said criminalising dissent was a breach of the fundamental rights of a citizen to free speech and dissent.

“A true democracy would allow ordinary people to question those in power.

“When the police are used to silence dissent, it clearly shows that they are complicit in the abuse of the right to dissent.”