Sessions court judge Edwin Paramjothy said the prosecution had established a prima facie case against the accused.

He then fixed the defence’s case to begin on Nov 11.

The prosecution had called nine witnesses to prove its case.

On June 1, 2021, Iswardy was charged under Section 4(1)(a) of the Sedition Act 1948 for statements made on Facebook deemed to be seditious and insulting towards the king.

The impugned comments were said to have been contained in a video posted online titled “Total lockdown: apa yang kerajaan gagal belajar dalam setahun” (Total lockdown: what the government failed to learn after one year).

The government at the time was led by Perikatan Nasional, with Muhyiddin Yassin as prime minister.

Iswardy, 47, is said to have committed the offence at the commercial crime investigation department’s office in Wangsa Maju at about 3pm on May 29, 2021.

If found guilty, he faces a fine of up to RM5,000 and imprisonment of up to three years.

Iswardy has been granted bail but it is subject to a gag order imposed by the court which prohibits him from commenting about the case publicly.

Deputy public prosecutor Iznina Hanim Hashim appeared for the prosecution while lawyer Faizal Rahman acted for the accused.