Akmal fails to have charge over Jalur Gemilang post dropped

The Penang prosecution director has rejected Umno Youth chief Dr Akmal Saleh’s representation seeking to have a charge connected to a Facebook post linked to an upside-down display of the Jalur Gemilang dropped.

His lawyer, Aizat Azam, said the representation was submitted about 10 months ago, and the rejection was communicated during case mention today, Sinar Harian reported.

He said the defence applied to the Bukit Mertajam magistrates’ court on Monday to submit a second representation to the attorney-general (AG) to present the facts, views and legal opinions concerning the case.

“God willing, we will submit the representation to the AG’s office after this,” he told reporters outside the Bukit Mertajam court complex today.

Akmal was charged last August under Section 505(b) of the Penal Code with making statements likely to cause public fear or alarm. The charge pertains to a video posted on his Facebook account on Aug 11.

In the video, Akmal allegedly issued a two-day ultimatum to the AG’s Chambers, demanding confirmation that legal action would be taken against an individual whom he referred to as an “apek”, or elderly Chinese man, for purportedly displaying the national flag upside down.

Aizat said the case had been ongoing for over a year with no trial date set, as the defence was still awaiting a decision on its representation.

The court earlier fixed Jan 4, 2027 for a decision on the second representation to be filed by the defence.

The case was handled by state prosecution director Muna Jaafar before magistrate Roshayati Radellah.

Besides Aizat, Akmal was also represented by counsel Syahrul Syazwan Salehin, Hafiz Norkhan, Imran Tamrin, Syafiq Bahtiar, Zaki Shah, Fazreen Izuan and Shakeel Saifuzzaman.

On Akmal’s application to commence judicial review proceedings against the AG’s decision to charge him over the Facebook post, Aizat said the matter was still at the case management stage.

“Tomorrow, we will attend an online case management at the Penang High Court and inform the court that we need another date while awaiting the outcome of the second representation to be submitted to the AG,” he said.

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