12-month jail for Adam Adli too excessive - Malaysian Bar president

The 12-month sentence imposed on student activist Adam Adli Abd Halim is excessive and disproportionate to the offence.

The Malaysian Bar Council believed that Adam Adli should only be fined at most, and not jailed.

Its president Christopher Leong said he did not view the words used by Adam which were said to be seditious, were meant to incite violence nor express illegal means.

"The Malaysian Bar views that the custodial sentence of 12 months prison is wholly disproportionate to the offence," he said at a press conference after the Malaysian Bar's Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) on the Sedition Act 1948 on Friday.

Adam Adli was found guilty today at the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court for a speech containing seditious slurs in Kuala Lumpur in May, 2013.

His lawyers, N Surendran and Latheefa Koya plead for him to be fined rather than to be imprisoned. The prosecutors requested for a “reasonable and fair sentence”.

Among his initial reactions, the 25-year-old had expressed is that the "difference in opinions is now a crime in the eyes of the prosecution."

Adam was charged for seditious speech in a talk where he instigated the society to rise and overthrow the ruling government who were lawfully elected by unlawful means.

He was found to have committed the offense at the Kuala Lumpur Chinese Assembly Hall on May 13.

The accused was charged under Section 4 (1) (b) of the Sedition Act 1948 (Act 15).