Malaysia’s Fake News Law Has Convicted Its First Person

Fake news is not just a problem experienced in the US, but in other countries as well where it has been found that the propagation of fake news could somehow affected elections. In fact over in Malaysia, a law was passed where it made the dissemination of fake news illegal where they could be sent to jail and/or fined.

Now according to a report from The Guardian, it looks like the country has convicted the first person under its new fake news law. A Danish citizen by the name of Salah Salem Saleh Sulaiman who has been living in Malaysia has been convicted of fake news, where he posted a video accusing local police of taking close to an hour to respond to distress calls after the shooting of a Palestinian lecturer on the 21st of April.

The police had disputed his claims, saying that they only took 8 minutes to respond. Sulaiman has since pleaded guilty and said that the video was made in a “moment of anger”. He also released a statement which reads, “I agreed I made a mistake … I seriously apologise to everybody in Malaysia, not just in the Malaysian police.”

The judge had fined Sulaiman RM10,000 (~$2,549) but because he could not afford the fine, he opted for a one-month jail term instead.

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