Judge Norma Ismail handed down the sentence on Ramesh Muniandy, who pleaded guilty to the charge under Section 233(1)(a) of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998.

If he fails to settle the fine, he must serve a five-month jail sentence.

According to the facts of the case, an officer from the Islamic development department read a Facebook comment from an account regarding the Prophet Muhammad on April 15.

The officer then lodged a complaint with the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), which raided Ramesh’s workplace in Perak, taking his mobile phone and SIM card.

During mitigation, Ramesh’s lawyer P Chandra Segaran urged the court to impose the minimum fine, saying his client regretted his action and wanted to apologise to the court and those offended by his comment.

However, MCMC prosecuting officer Farhan Kamarudin asked the court to impose a deterrent sentence on Ramesh, whom he said had made “baseless allegations” about the Prophet Muhammad.