Judge Ahmad Fuad Othman made the ruling today after finding that the prosecution had established a prima facie case against Aliff.

Fuad said the prosecution proved that Aliff was the owner and administrator of the Instagram account used to upload the content after he voluntarily submitted the ID and password of the account.

“To show that the accused had control over the account, he submitted the login details and two-factor authentication to the sixth prosecution witness (investigator).

“As a result, the witness was able to access the account,” he said.

Fuad also said there was no need for an expert to define the term “tidak sopan” (offensive) as raised by the defence.

“It’s a standard dictionary definition. Given the circumstances in which the video was posted, it was inappropriate, especially during Ramadan,” the judge added.

The court set May 19 and 22, as well as June 16 and July 3 for the trial.

The court previously postponed its decision in the case from March 11 to today.

Deputy public prosecutor from the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission, Faten Hadni Khairuddin, appeared for the prosecution. Aliff was represented by lawyers Awang Armadajaya Awang Mahmud and Radzlan Jalaludin.

Aliff claimed trial on Oct 13, 2022 to four counts of uploading offensive content on his Instagram account in April of that year. He was accused of producing and uploading the video with the intention of offending others on April 13, 15, 17 and 21.

The clip depicted a group of male dancers in make-up behaving in an effeminate manner.

The charges were framed under Section 233(1)(a) of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998, punishable under Section 233(3) of the same act with a maximum fine of RM50,000 or up to a year’s imprisonment, and a further fine of RM1,000 for each day the offence continues after conviction.