Political cartoonist Zunar has claimed trial at the Sessions Court in Kuala Lumpur to nine charges of sedition for nine tweets on the outcome of Anwar Ibrahim’s Sodomy II trial.

All nine charges will be tried together, while bail has been set at RM2,500 for each charge, for a total of RM22,500.

If found guilty, he faces up to 43 years in jail.

Judge Zanol Rashid Hussain has set May 20 for case mentioning.

Zunar, whose real name is Zulkiflee Anwar Ulhaque, was represented by former Bar Council president Ambiga Sreenevasan and lawyer Latheefa Koya.

Speaking to reporters later, Latheefa ( left ) said the cartoonist has set a new record for the number of sedition charges.

"No one has been charged nine times for sedition. The most is two," she said.

Ambiga meanwhile said the government should get their priorities right instead of cracking down on dissent.

"Yesterday Special Branch announced that an Islamic State attack is imminent. I would think that is more important than dealing with purported sedition," she added.

Zunar slammed the government

The cartoonist, who appeared in court wearing a purple shirt similar to those worn by detainees, earlier slammed the government for the charges.

"They are trying very hard to completely silence me. If I made cartoons that praised the government, this would not happen," he told reporters at the court cafeteria.

Besides wearing his own prison shirt, Zunar also brought his own handcuffs which he wore while posing for photographs.

Zunar is being charged under Section 4(1)(c) of the Sedition Act, for posting tweets critical of the judiciary when they sentenced Anwar to jail.

He is accused of posting the nine tweets at 3pm at the Dang Wangi district police headquarters on February 10.

Deputy public prosecutor Mohd Nordin Ismail had originally asked for bail to be set at RM5,000 per charge to which Zunar's defence counsel objected.

The defence also asked for the nine charges to be read separately.

"In a sedition case, each sentence must be read on its own to determine if it is seditious. If the court is given all nine tweets at once, then the context might be viewed as a whole... and this will prejudice our client," Latheefa said.

Justice Zanol struck down defence's proposal for separate trials, but agreed to reduce bail to RM2,500 per charge.

The bail was posted and the entire contribution of RM22,500 came from the public.

DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng made a personal contribution of RM5,000 to the bail kitty, which was delivered through Segambut MP Lim Lip Eng.

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