Fifty-four-year-old Zulkifli Anwar Ulhaque, who draws as "Zunar," was arrested November 26.
Malaysian news outlet The Star reports that the day before the arrest, 20 to 30 people stormed an event at the George Town Literary Festival where the cartoonist was speaking and displaying his work and the police had to be called. The group was led by local youth leaders from the United Malays National Organisation (Umno), Malaysia's largest political party.
— Zunar Cartoonist (@zunarkartunis) November 25, 2016
"The festival condemns this act of repression which is contrary to the spirit of free speech and expression, a central premise of the festival," director of the festival Bernice Chauly said.
The cartoonist turned himself in the next day with his lawyer to give a statement on the charges under section 4(1)(c) under the Sedition Act and Section 504 of the Penal Code, the New Straits Times reported. He was released after his statement was taken and was to have a hearing November 27.
"This incident is too cartoonish that I do not know where to start to draw [about it], but I will definitely do a series to explain the whole situation," Zunar told the Malaysiakini media outlet after his release.
Amnesty International has been urging Malaysia to repeal the Sedition Act and other repressive laws, which it says are used to undermine freedom of expression and crush political dissent in the country. Opposition politicians, academics, activists and journalists have all been found to fall foul of the law recently.
"Levels of repression are reaching dangerous levels in Malaysia," Michael Vatikiotis, a writer at the festival, told AFP. "The fact that Zunar's arrest happened at the George Town Literary Festival, with dozens of international writers and artists, only underscores the government's disregard for freedom of expression."
Zunar in particular has been harassed under cover of the laws. His political cartoon books are banned in the country, he has at least nine previous charges under the Sedition Act pending, and he was hauled to court in 2015 for tweeting criticism of the five-year sodomy conviction of opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, a case called politically motivated and a sentence deplored by Amnesty International, the UN and other states and organizations.
Most recently, Zunar has come under fire for mocking Prime Minister Najib Razak and his family. Najib, who took office in 2009, is alleged to have funneled hundreds of millions of dollars from government coffers into pet investment project 1MDB. Tens of thousands took to the streets to call for his resignation last weekend.
Zunar has also been drawing cartoons about the plight of Maria Chin Abdullah, chair of the Bersih movement that calls for free and fair elections in Malaysia, who was arrested on November 18 and is being held in solitary confinement.
— Zunar Cartoonist (@zunarkartunis) November 24, 2016
"The arrest of Zunar is an outrage. The charge of sedition against him must be dropped immediately and he must be unconditionally released from detention," Amnesty International Deputy Director for Southeast Asia and the Pacific Josef Benedict said in a statement.
Cartoonistsrights.org reports that Zunar will challenge the Sedition Act in court, with a court date set for January 24, 2017.
