Teenager Muhammad Amirul Azwan Mohd Shakri should not have been sent to jail for the comments he made about football, Suaram programme coordinator Amir Abdul Hadi says.

“Football is a people’s sport. There would be mocking and insults between a group of supporters and another. That is normal in football.

“We believe that it (jailing Amirul) goes against Article 10 of the Federal Constitution – the freedom of speech. It is just a statement on social media, and should not result in jail.

“This is against basic human rights and is oppressive, because it imprisons people for just for causing a heartache to another person,” Amir told Malaysiakini when contacted.

Amirul, 19, yesterday pleaded guilty to charges under Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998, and was ordered jailed for one year by the sessions court in Johor Baru.

He admitted to 14 counts of making insulting comments against Johor Crown Prince Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim, who owns the Johor Darul Ta'azim (JDT) football club.

Section 233 criminalises the "improper use" of network facilities with the intent of annoying, abusing, or threatening another person.

'Judge erred in doling out maximum sentence'

In any case, a one-year jail sentence over a social media posting is excessive, Lawyers for Liberty executive director Eric Paulsen said.

“At the end of the day, these are mere comments. It is not a hate crime and he did not incite violence. Even though it may be distasteful, they are mere comments and are not criminal in nature,” Paulsen said.

Echoing Paulsen, lawyer Syahredzan Johan (photo) said Sessions Court judge Sabariah Atan erred when she imposed the maximum sentence without considering mitigating factors, such as the lack of victims, and whether this was the teen's first offence.

“Instead of taking into account his guilty plea, the learned judge imposed the maximum sentence for the offence.

“This clearly an error on the part of the sessions court judge. To say the sentence is excessive is an understatement,” Syahredzan wrote on his Facebook page.

Howevr, the biggest tragedy was that Amirul had no representation.

“Something is wrong with the system if it has not been made known to this boy of his rights to legal representation,” Syahredzan said.

Amir told Malaysiakini that Suaram was looking to establish contact with Amirul after having failed to locate him earlier.

The human rights group intends to find him a lawyer and appeal against the court decision, he said.