Zed Zaidi among 4 charged with fear-mongering

SEPANG: The Malaysian Artistes Association president Zed Zaidi and three others were charged in the Magistrate’s Court here yesterday with publishing statements on Facebook and Twitter regarding Covid19, which are likely to cause fear or alarm to the public, last month.

Zed Zaidi, whose real name is Rozaidi Abdul Jamil, 40, pleaded not guilty and claimed trial to the charge after it was read out to him before magistrate A. Akhiruddin@Boy Acho.

Zed Zaidi was alleged to have committed the offence through his tweet, with the handle @rozaidijamil, at 12.51pm on Jan 27, which was read by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) in Cyberjaya at 10.30am on Jan 29.

Under Section 505(b) of the Penal Code, the charge carries imprisonment, which may extend to two years, or with fine, or both, upon conviction.

The magistrate allowed him bail of RM5,000 and set March 11 for remention.

On Jan 31, Zed Zaidi was questioned by MCMC for two hours regarding the report titled “Breaking News: All countries except Malaysia — All countries have banned Chinese tourists except Malaysia”, which he shared on Twitter and Facebook.

At the same court, a company director, 30-year-old Mohd Khairul Anuar Rosli pleaded not guilty and claimed trial to the same charge.

He was alleged to have spread fake news on Covid-19 using the “Oh My Media” web application, which was detected by MCMC at 1.20pm on Jan 27.

Akhiruddin allowed him bail of RM5,000 and set March 17 for remention.

Two other men, technician Mohd Afendy Mohd Said, 34, and businessman Syed Mohd Faiz Syed Nasir, 28, pleaded guilty to the same charge.

They admitted to having committed the offence using their Facebook and Twitter accounts, which were read by MCMC on Jan 27.

Akhiruddin set March 17 for sentencing.