A trader was acquitted and discharged by the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court today of posting offensive comments on the Sultan of Perak on the Internet.

Judge Komathy Suppiah freed Muslim Ahmad after ruling that the prosecution had failed to make out a prima facie case against him.

Muslim, 54, was alleged to have posted the comments on the state government portal, www.perak.gov.my, at No. 1, Jalan 5/26, Taman Sri Rampai, Setapak, at  2.21pm and 2.27pm on Feb 7 last year and at 4.39pm the following day.

Komathy said that based on the evidence of Cybersecurity's Digital Forensic Division manager Mohd Zabril Adil Talib, 31, the prosecution had failed to show a similarity between the time the comments were posted and the time Muslim accessed the Internet.

She said that although Muslim was a suspect in the case based on the fact that the Internet protocol (IP) address used was his, anyone could have used the same IP to access the Internet.

"It shows that there is a possibility that other people could have used the same IP address as the defendant," she said.

Muslim was represented by counsel K Periasamy and N Nathan while deputy public prosecutor Azlina Rasdi appeared for the prosecution.

Each charge under Section 233(1)(a) of the Multimedia Communication Act 1998 carries a maximum one year's jail or RM50,000 fine, or both, on conviction.

- Bernama