Malaysia

Zunar arrested for 2nd time in 3 weeks

UPDATE: Zunar is following police instructions pertaining to his recent arrests in both Penang and Kuala Lumpur while legal challenges to the charges against him continue.

UPDATE: Zunar has been released and wrote to supporters as follows:

Today, 17 dec 2016, I was arrested again by the police during my fund-raising program with the fans. The purpose of this fund-raising is to recover the loss that I had with my previous exhibition where twenty (20) of my paintings were confiscated by the police and taken into their custody, causing losses of estimated USD10,000.00.
Today the police also confiscated more than 1,000 books which involved twelve (12) titles, causing another losses of estimated USD10,000.00.  Two of my assistants were arrested together with two fans. We were taken to the police station and investigated under Section 124 of the Penal Code for being detrimental to parliamentary democracy, carrying a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison.
I was questioned for almost 6 hours and released under bail at midnight. I would have to report back to the police station on the 30 Dec 2016.
According to the police, they will apply a law to ban all my books.
This is my second arrest within three (3) weeks. On 25th Nov 2016, I was arrested under the Sedition Act.
This adds up to the long list of harrassments and intimidation by the Malaysian government to me.
The pattern is directly proportionate to the increased level of corruption and injustices in Malaysia. Corrupt government fears cartoons.
I would like to point out my stand: talent is not a gift, but a responsibility. It is my responsibility as a cartoonist to expose corruption and injustices. Do I fear jail? Yes, but responsibility is bigger that fear. You can ban my books, you can ban my cartoons, but you cannot ban my mind. I will keep drawing until the last drop of my ink.

The police comment about a blanket ban on all books is of particular and grave concern and taken together with the incidents mentioned above and detailed below it seems clear that the Malaysian state is now intent upon the destruction of Zunar’s career.

Malaysian cartoonist Zunar’s Twitter feed confirms that he was placed under arrest during a public event today in Kuala Lumpur.


Zunar is contesting legal battles on multiple fronts and had been in the midst of a fund-raising Saturday afternoon tea party with supporters, hence the additional seizure of books worth about $6.5k, a clear attempt to deny him income and in itself a well-worn tactic employed against him by agents of the state over the last decade.

As we have reported of late, Zunar is currently unable to leave Malaysia, was placed under police arrest at the end of November after an exhibition in Penang was disrupted by pro-government protestors and he is preparing for a court appearance  to challenge the Sedition Act, the ultimate weapon of the Malaysian government which is seeking to imprison him for the rest of his natural life.

Zunar’s recent woes precipitated a statement of solidarity from several of the world’s leading editorial cartoonists; this latest instance of harassment will only redouble the outrage felt by his colleagues. One again CRNI calls for his immediate release and safety in which to continue speaking truth to power.

 To Report a Cartoonist in Danger  Email Cartoonists Rights Network

To Donate to Cartoonist Rights Network Click Here

Cartooning For Peace pays tribute to Zunar

crni-logo

At an event held last night at the Society of Illustrators in New York, celebrating a decade of  Cartooning For Peace, the following statement was made in solidarity with Zunar, whose recent difficulties are covered at length in our prior blog posts:

1/ We, cartoonists, are proud to support our colleague Zunar, a courageous and recognized cartoonist of Malaysia who has received the 2016 Cartooning for Peace Award of the City of Geneva on May 3rd in Switzerland, to mark World Press Freedom Day.

2/ By drawing and commenting on current affairs with talent, impertinence and humor, cartoonists fully and beautifully exercise freedom of expression, and thereby, extend our own freedom. Zunar, like other editorial cartoonists who are threatened, imprisoned or forced to flee into exile because of their drawings, deserves the full support of the international community.

3/ We call upon the Malaysian authorities to immediately end the continued harassment of cartoonist Zunar. Zunar’s fundamental rights to freedom of expression and freedom of movement must be respected, according to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights signed by Malaysia.

4/ We join International and Human Rights NGOs and call upon the Malaysian authorities to lift the travel ban on Zunar with immediate effect and to drop the numerous sedition charges against him.

5/ We pay tribute to Zunar and other editorial cartoonists for their courage to work and draw under very difficult circumstances in many regions of the world.

Cartooning For Peace

Patrick Chappatte

Jeff Danziger

Lisa Donnelly

Ann Telnaes

Nicola Vado

Cartoonists Rights Network International

Dr Robert Russell

 To Report a Cartoonist in Danger  Email Cartoonists Rights Network

To Donate to Cartoonist Rights Network Click Here

Zunar continues court battle against Malay gov’t

The Malay Mail reports that Zunar is set to file suit against the travel ban imposed upon him mid-October.

zunar-freedom-of-movement

It has been an extraordinary two months for the Malaysian cartoonist.

At the end of November a public exhibit of his work in Penang was disrupted by pro-government vandals and eventually cancelled. Shortly thereafter Zunar was arrested, seemingly at the behest of a local official.  An investigation into the incident is ongoing and Zunar will have to return for further questioning in January.

The Inspector General of Police recently stated that Zunar should draw “nice” cartoons, for example Donald Duck, if he doesn’t want to fall foul of the law. His response features his usual bêtes noires, prime minister Najib Razak and wife Rosmah Mansor.

zunar-donald-duck

The background to all of the above is the Malaysian government’s long-standing sedition case against Zunar which he is likewise seeking to overturn with a formal legal challenge in the new year.

With regard to his application for a judicial review against the travel ban, he says:

“The grounds of the challenge are that there is no reason given by the authorities for the travel ban, and there is no court order barring me from leaving the country. Hence, this arbitrary banning is an abuse of power and a breach of natural justice and the Federal Constitution.”

CRNI reiterate our support for Zunar in the face of continual harassment and call for an end to his persecution by agents of the state.

 To Report a Cartoonist in Danger  Email Cartoonists Rights Network

To Donate to Cartoonist Rights Network Click Here

Zunar under arrest in Penang

11/29/16 UPDATE: Zunar has written to supporters saying that the artwork from last weekend’s exhibition remains in police hands and that he must report back on December 27th for “further investigation”. In addition two organisers of the event have been questioned.

11/27/16 UPDATE: Zunar has been released.

11/27/16 UPDATE: Zunar’s Twitter feed states that he will be released from police custody today, 17:00 local time, 09:00 GMT. We await further news.

11/26/16 – Within 24 hours of reporting about the disruption of Zunar’s latest cartoon exhibition in Penang we were dismayed to hear of his arrest.

Zunar (centre) in Penang 25/11/16

The news is carried by The Star and confirmed via Zunar’s Twitter feed as below:

Prior to his arrest, Zunar wrote to supporters around the world as follows:

Today (25th Nov 2016)  I was forced to call off my exhibition in Penang, 4 hour drive north of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia due to an attack by pro government thugs. I was verbally abused, physically attacked, and my artworks were vandalized.

More than 30 thugs stormed into my newly launched exhibition in a public area. They were aggressive, hostile and abusive. Some of them assaulted me. I was fortunate that a few members of public came to my rescue. The few policemen who turned up were unable to control the thugs and they had to call in the anti riot unit.

The thugs demanded that I take down the exhibition and some of them proceeded to destroy my artworks.

So, to summarise: within one afternoon Zunar exhibited some political cartoons in a Penang shopping centre, was counter-protested and allegedly man-handled by a group from UMNO, police broke up the scrum, the cartoons were removed (or perhaps damaged), the event was cancelled and Zunar was arrested for “breach of the peace”.

The supreme irony of the situation is that this arrest has been made under  Section 4(1)(c) of the Sedition Act 1948, the very law to be challenged as unconstitutional buy Zunar and his lawyers in January.

The UMNO official whose complaint to police apparently led to the arrest gives his account of Friday’s events here, a version that is disputed by a local councillor here.

CRNI maintains as always that political cartoons constitute freedom of expression which is a fundamental human right as well as a legitimate, legal and entirely peaceful form of protest. We condemn this arrest unreservedly, the tenth time Zunar has been detained in this fashion.

The story has also been picked up by our friends at Cartooning For Peace and United Sketches.

 To Report a Cartoonist in Danger  Email Cartoonists Rights Network

To Donate to Cartoonist Rights Network Click Here

Zunar exhibit disrupted & cancelled

Zunar tweets us to say that his most recent public exhibit of cartoons in the Komtar Penang mall was disrupted by pro-government protestors earlier today:

The situation deteriorated to the point where police in riot gear were required to intervene:

In an interview with Free Malaysia Today he confirms that he has cancelled the show outright.

As readers of our blog know well, Zunar is currently prohibited from leaving Malaysia. A long time critic of Prime Minister Najib Razak, Zunar will formally challenge the legality of the state’s sedition act in January. If successful he will avoid a further trial for nine counts of sedition and a possible prison sentence of over forty years. Unable to travel elsewhere but determined to continue his cartooning career, speaking truth to power and facing a hostile regime, regrettable incidents like this one become more likely.

 To Report a Cartoonist in Danger  Email Cartoonists Rights Network

To Donate to Cartoonist Rights Network Click Here

Zunar will challenge the sedition act in January

Beleaguered but defiant, Zunar emailed supporters this morning with news that a court date has been set for his challenge to the legality of Malaysia’s sedition act: 24th January 2017

If successful he will avoid facing prosecution for the nine counts of sedition the government are currently charging against him.

Zunar remains under a travel ban. As we reported last month and many times over in the past, the Malaysian government is determined to disrupt if not terminate the career of this internationally respected cartoonist, whose primary subject is the corruption he contends exists in the administration of Prime Minister Najib Razak and the suppression of democratic freedoms in Malaysia.  Like many in the country’s capital he was wearing yellow for last weekend’s “Bersih5” peaceful protests.

Cartoon by Zunar in support of Bersih5 protests.

Cartoon by Zunar in support of Bersih5 protests.

We wish Zunar and his lawyers every success early next year and sincerely hope this will put an end to his years of strife.

 To Report a Cartoonist in Danger  Email Cartoonists Rights Network

To Donate to Cartoonist Rights Network Click Here

CRNI
Twitter
Facebook
Instagram

Our awards-giving partners, Freedom Cartoonists Foundation, Geneva

Categories

GDPR

Visitors to this site based in the EU – please be aware this site uses Cookies. Full details in our Privacy Policy.

CARTOONISTS RIGHTS
DEFENDING CARTOONISTS ON THE FRONTLINES OF FREE SPEECH