'I sympathise with my friend Wan Ji, but...'

Science, Technology, and Innovation Minister Chang Lih Kang sympathises with his friend Wan Ji Wan Hussin, who was yesterday jailed for nine months for sedition.

However, the PKR lawmaker stressed that he was powerless to do anything as the preacher's imprisonment was according to due process of the law.

"Wan Ji is my friend. I sympathise with him.

"However, it is a court decision," Chang told reporters when met at the sidelines of a function in Kuala Lumpur today.

Chang (above, centre) was asked about Wan Ji's jailing after the Court of Appeal yesterday rejected the latter's bid to quash a High Court conviction over a 2014 sedition case linked to the Selangor sultan.

The appellate court, however, allowed his appeal to reduce his sentence which the High Court had previously enhanced.

A journalist had asked about PKR's current stance on Wan Ji's case as the party president-cum-Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim had previously spoken out against the preacher's sedition conviction by the High Court.

READ MORE: KINIGUIDE | A refresher on the controversial Sedition Act

The one-year imprisonment, imposed by the High Court then, was “harsh” and “not consistent with the democratic transition”, Anwar said in 2019, while he was still in the opposition.

Chang stressed that no one could intervene in the matter now as the decision was taken by the court, according to the law.

"That's all I can say," he said.

The Pakistan-educated Wan Ji was once seen as the 'go-to' expert in Islamic-related matters by many PKR leaders.

The PKR member has also served as the religious adviser to former Penang chief minister Lim Guan Eng.

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