Nalini Elumalai of Article 19 called for the government to stop “harassing and intimidating” Fahmi, who was slapped with a charge after insulting PAS by posting a photo on Facebook of two beer cans bearing the party logo.

“The government’s use of retaliatory criminal charges in an attempt to intimidate Fahmi  only succeeds in exposing their malicious witch hunt against him.

“Their campaign of harassment and criminalisation of expression must stop,” she said in a statement today.

Nalini said the government had continued to “weaponise” Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 to silence its critics and stifle artistic expression.

“The Act must be amended to ensure that freedom of expression is no longer undermined,” she said.

Meanwhile, human rights NGO Suara Rakyat Malaysia (Suaram) expressed its support for Fahmi by tweeting that “satire is not a crime”.

This morning, Fahmi pleaded not guilty to the new charge. The prosecution contended that he had uploaded the post on June 1, 2021 with the intention to annoy others.

The charge follows another last week in which he was accused of insulting former health minister Dr Adham Baba on Twitter.

The tweet in question touches on the 2021 Cabinet policy that allowed ministers to observe a three-day quarantine, instead of 10 days, after they returned from overseas.