Sharil Mohd Sarif, 38, was handed the sentence after he changed his plea when the case came for mention before sessions court judge M M Edwin Paramjothy, who also imposed another RM1,000 fine on him for being a repeat offender.

The accused made the remarks with intent to annoy others on Twitter under the name “Sharil bin Mohd Sarif” at 7.43am on April 20.

The postings were read at the cyber crime and multimedia investigation division office of the commercial crime investigation department in Bukit Aman at 1.30pm on the same day.

Sharil, who was unrepresented, improperly used the network facilities, an offence under Section 233 (1) (a) of the Communications and Multimedia Act.

Those guilty of this offence can be fined up to RM50,000 or sentenced to a maximum one-year jail term, or both.

Section 233 (3) also empowers the court to impose a further fine of RM1,000 for subsequent offences.

In mitigation, the accused said he had three children to support and that his wife had died three months ago.

Deputy public prosecutor Najihah Farhana Che Awang pressed for a deterrent sentence saying the accused had two previous convictions for similar offences.

Last year, the same judge sentenced the accused to 10 months’ jail separately for two charges after he pleaded guilty to having insulted the Yang di-Pertuan Agong and the Raja Permaisuri Agong on his Instagram account.

Paramjothy had ordered both jail sentences to run concurrently from the date of arrest on March 2, last year.

The remarks were made on the official Instagram account of Istana Negara during a live broadcast of the swearing-in ceremony of the eighth prime minister, Muhyiddin Yassin.

Sharil was first sentenced to two months’ jail after he pleaded guilty to insulting the King on Facebook using the profile “Shahril Chain” in a posting at 11.30am on March 13, 2019.