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Sex Blogger Alvin Tan's Ex-GF Jailed For 6 Months

Despite the fact that she was not the main offender.

Cover image via therakyatpost.com

Earlier today, a Sessions Court Judge Abdul Rashid Daud sentenced Vivian Lee to six months in jail after she was convicted of sedition over a controversial Ramadan "bak kut teh" post on Facebook

Image via Borneo Bulletin

Saying that the matter involved the sensitivities of the Muslim community, Judge Abdul Rashid said that he was imposing the jail term to deter other would-be offenders

“You know that pork is haram (forbidden) for Muslims.

“Like what the prosecutor said, nasi sudah jadi bubur, even if there was apology, but your actions have injured the feelings of Malaysians,” he said, using the Malay idiom that means “too late to make reparations”.

themalaymailonline.com

However, while first-time convictions for sedition are punishable with a maximum RM5,000 fine or a maximum three-year jail term or both, the judge said the six-month jail term was awarded to Vivian as this was her first offence, The Malay Mail Online reported

In Vivian's defence, lead counsel Chong Joo Tian highlighted that Vivian "was not the main offender and merely played a passive role over the July 11, 2013 Facebook photo".

He also added that Vivian had apologised on Facebook and removed the greeting the same day as well as apologised in a YouTube video the next day.

However, deputy public prosecutor Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin cited public interest and argued that her "actions had injured the feelings of both Muslims and non-Muslims."

"The court will be considered to have failed if it imposed a sentence based on compassion and sympathy on the accused," The Malay Mail quoted him as saying.

After the sentencing, Judge Abdul Rashid allowed the jail sentence to be stayed, pending Vivian's appeal to the High Court.

However, he increased the bail from RM10,000 to RM20,000 and ruled that her passport remains in the court's possession.

While Vivian has been punished for a crime she was only a passive participant, her ex-boyfriend and main culprit Alvin Tan jumped his bail last year and fled to the United States to avoid facing trial.

Read our previous coverage of Alvin Tan's antics, here:

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