Lawyer and former Padang Serai MP N Surendran has taken Abdul Gani Patail to task for the nine sedition charges laid against political cartoonist Zunar in 2015, asking whether the former attorney-general had properly used his prosecutorial powers when he was in office.

Surendran said while Gani is presently part of the special 1MDB task force set up by the new government, he was responsible for bringing the historically high nine charges against Zunar for sedition.

"It was also during 2014 and earlier than that during Gani's tenure as attorney-general, where you find many opposition politicians were charged with such oppressive laws.

"Gani must come out and reveal why he did that or gave the instructions. He must come clean on this," he said.

"He is the person or the one who led the AG Chambers in charging Zunar, with a national record of nine sedition charges under the old BN regime. He was also responsible for charging many politicians and civil society leaders during that time," he added.

Surendran himself is also facing a sedition charge following his comments to the press on PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim’s Sodomy II trial in 2014.

The lawyer said under the old BN regime used the law to perpetuate its grip on power.

"Here you find Zunar using cartoons and he was brave enough to use this as a means of dissent and as a result, he faced all these charges."

Hence, Surendran urged Gani to explain and apologise for doing this.

"He owes it to Malaysians to explain his actions, working during his time with the BN regime, and bringing a record number of sedition and other charges against opposition members and civil society leaders. He should explain and he should apologise (if in the wrong)," he said.

Surendran said there are also many police reports lodged against Gani arising from Anwar Ibrahim's first sodomy case, which remains unresolved.

"So all this must be looked into as it brought into question of good governance, the integrity of the criminal justice system and legal system. This is to ensure there is no repeat of such incidences," he said.