Malaysia's 'Banksy' charged for his drawing of the prime minister as a clown

The artist whose clown caricature of the Malaysian prime minister went viral earlier this year faced a judge on Monday over his drawings.

Malaysian graphic artist Fahmi Reza pleaded not guilty to charges of violating the country's multimedia laws for posting online content to "annoy, abuse, threaten, or harass."

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

Reza started drawing prime minister Najib Razak in clown makeup at the start of the year. By March, one of his original drawings carrying the phrase "dalam negara yang penuh dengan korupsi, kita semua penghasut" (in a country filled with corruption, we are all seditious) inspired a larger viral movement online.

His clown and a shortened version of the phrase started showing up on graffiti around Malaysia, on stickers pasted on walls, T-shirts and fan art online.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

Under the charges, he faces one year in prison and a fine of up to 50,000 ringgit ($12,296).

While Banksy, to whom Reza is often compared with for his political activism, is largely anonymous, the Malaysian artist has been consistently posting new drawings and photos of himself to Facebook and Twitter, where he has over 52,000 and 11,900 followers, respectively.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

In some of Reza's drawings, Najib is seen holding a wad of dollar notes, alluding to ongoing accusations of corruption against the politician. Malaysia has been rocked by a scandal involving the troubled 1MDB state fund that is under Najib's purview, which mishandled hundreds of millions of dollars.

Last year, it was revealed that $700 million was deposited into Najib's personal accounts from companies linked to 1MDB, but the prime minister has denied that the money came from the state fund.

Now, members of the local media are also coming out to say that Najib's government started cracking down on freedom of speech, in an effort to muzzle the press reporting on the scandal.

Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.