Zunar Loses In Appeals Court

On November 1, Malaysian cartoonist Zunar, recipient of CRNI’s 2011 Award for Courage In Editorial Cartooning, received the decision of the Appeals Court of Malaysia concerning his challenge to an earlier ruling that had upheld his 2010 arrest on charges of sedition, and the seizure of his book “Cartoon-O-Phobia”. Justices Abdul Aziz Abdul Rahim, Mohd Arif Md Yusof and David Wong unanimously upheld the arrest and detention, as well as the earlier court’s decision that the seizure of Zunar’s books in 2010 was unlawful.
The arrest and seizure had and continue to have a significant impact on Zunar’s finances and ability to continue his work, including delaying the publication of his newest book, “Pirates of Carry-BN”, as 10 printers turned down the job. In spite of this, he is pressing on with his work, as well his criticism of the Malaysian government’s anti- free speech policies.
Zunar’s case began in September 2010, when he was arrested even before the cartoon book that was the center of the controversy have been released to the public. No one either in the judiciary nor the police could later confirmed that they had seen any of the cartoons in the book. What follows here are Zunar’s own words, with this link to his website with his whole story.

“The Appeals Court of Malaysia today dismissed my appeal against the High Court decision last year which ruled that the police have a right to arrest and detain me under the Sedition Act for publishing my comic book “Cartoon-O-Phobia”. The Appeals Court also upheld the lower court’s ruling that the confiscation of 66 copies of the book in September 2010 was illegal and ordered the police to return the books and compensate me for them. To me, today’s judgement, as the one before, is unacceptable and comical. How could the judges rule that my detention was legal but the confiscation of my book was illegal?”
Zunar’s latest statement on the matter from November 28, 2012 follows:
“I have sent my latest cartoon book, “Pirates of the Carry-BN”, as a special ‘gift’ to Court Appeal Judges who presided over my case early November. I personally delivered the gift to the registration counter at the Palace Of Justice building in Putrajaya , near Kuala Lumpur yesterday.
I hope the judges will read the book and have better understanding about political cartoon and the role of political cartoonist in democratic country.”
The message in the book read as “Dear Justice Abdul Aziz, Arif and David Wong… On 1st Nov 2013, you made a judgement: “The police were right to detain me under the Sedition Act for publishing a comic book, Cartoon-O-Phobia in September 2010.
Please read this book and you will find that “Drawing cartoon is not a crime!!
Sincerely,
Zunar”

Zunar’s website is http://www.zunar.my/
His work can also be found on Twitter as Zunar Kartunis
For those wishing to express support, his email is zunar49@gmail.com