KUALA LUMPUR: An activist has pleaded guilty to posting insulting comments on Christianity on her Facebook account last year.

       Wan Asshima Kamaruddin, 38, who is with non-governmental organisation (NGO) Pondok Hijrah Muslimah Malaysia (MUM), was unable to hold back tears after changing her plea to guilty at her trial at the Sessions Court here on Wednesday (May 25).

       Judge MM Edwin Paramjothy set June 15 to hear the facts of the case and for sentencing.

       Wan Asshima was accused of making and initiating transmission of offensive communications with the intention of offending others, through a Facebook account in the name of "Puteri Mujahidah Wan Asshima Kamaruddin" at 9.23am on March 11 last year.

       The post was then read at the Cyber and Multimedia Crime Investigation Division Office, Bukit Aman Commercial Crime Investigation Department, Wangsa Maju, at 6.24pm on March 13 the same year.

       She was charged under Section 233 (1) (a) of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998, punishable under Section 233 (3) of the same Act, which provides a maximum fine of RM50,000 or imprisonment not exceeding one year or both, and an additional fine of RM1,000 for every day that the offence is repeated after conviction, if found guilty.

       Earlier, DPP Najihah Farhana Che Awang pressed for appropriate punishment to serve as a lesson to the accused and the public, considering that there were 61 police reports lodged nationwide regarding the post by the accused.

       "The most complaints came from Sabah, Sarawak, Kuala Lumpur and Selangor. I also ask the court to consider this case which has entered the trial stage, with three prosecution witnesses having been called to testify, before the accused changed her plea to guilty,” she said.

       Lawyer Dorina Abdullah, who represented Wan Asshima, pleaded for leniency on the grounds that her client was the sole breadwinner of the family and did not intend to harm the public through her posting.

       "My client is also facing a divorce case. I seek the court's sympathy in meting out the sentence for this case,” she said. – Bernama