KOTA KINABALU, Sept 11 — Two individuals appeared in separate Sessions Court proceedings here today over social media posts linked to the ongoing inquest into the death of 13-year-old schoolgirl Zara Qairina Mahathir.
A housewife was found guilty and fined for falsely implicating Sabah’s Head of State in the teenager’s death while a headmaster pleaded not guilty to threatening the inquest’s first witness, forensic pathologist Dr Jessie Hiu.
In the first case, housewife Asmaziah Sedek, 32, was fined RM10,000, in default two months’ jail, after pleading guilty to posting false information on Facebook using the profile “Ash Qiey”.
She stated in her post on July 29 post that children of prominent figures, including members of the Yang di-Pertua Negeri’s family, were involved in Zara’s death.
The post, which went viral and was later shared on WhatsApp, was found to be defamatory and without evidence.
Asmaziah, who was unrepresented, told Sessions court judge Marlina Ibrahim that she regretted her actions and pleaded for leniency, saying she acted out of emotion as a mother and had no funds to pay a heavy fine.
“I only posted it as an emotional reaction. I have an eight-month-old baby who is still breastfeeding, and my husband has only just started working,” she said.
Deputy public prosecutors DK Afiqah Alya AK Johari and Nurul Shafeerah Mad Iskim urged the court to impose a strong sentence, citing public interest and the surge of false statements online following Zara’s death....
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