By: Daniel McElroy

Fahmi Reza, the Malaysian artist and graphic designer who was arrested in February 2016 for mocking Prime Minister Najib Razak by drawing him as a clown, has now been sentenced to one month in prison and a fine of RM30,000 ($7,700) for the caricature.

Reza, who has been using his designs to vocally criticize corruption in Malaysia since 2002, first uploaded the image to his Facebook page before showing it publicly. It was due to Reza’s use of social media that he found himself in legal trouble—he was tried under the 1998 Multimedia and Communications Act, which prohibits the dissemination of information deemed “obscene, indecent, false, menacing or offensive in character with intent to annoy, abuse, threaten or harass another person”. He still faces a similar charge in a second court.

The law under which Reza was convicted has been used increasingly in recent months to silence critics of Razak and his government. Though the Malaysia has stated publicly that it will not censor the internet, the government has been cracking down on dissent and has effectively blocked access to websites and news outlets critical of Reza and a scandal in which he allegedly misappropriated $4.5 billion worth of government funds.

Reza’s lawyer succeeded in obtaining a stay of the sentence, allowing him to avoid serving the jail sentence until an appeal process has been completed. Reza was still required to pay the RM30,000 fine immediately.