GRAPHIC designer Fahmi Reza has launched a crowdfunding campaign for the RM30,000 fine he was slapped with after being convicted for posting a caricature, depicting Prime Minister Najib Razak as a clown, on his Facebook page.

The fine is in lieu of a six-month jail sentence.

To raise funds, the activist is selling school exercise books, stickers, lapel pins and T-shirts bearing the very same clown caricature of Najib.

He announced the campaign on Facebook, where he also received suggestions from supporters to appeal for donations and make available his personal bank account number.

“You all know that I am not a member of any opposition political party, I have no ‘cable’ with any politician or big shot, there is no one backing me up, there is no sponsor for my graphic works that I use in protests,” he said on his Facebook page.

Fahmi said he had always acted alone in producing his creative works, which he uses as part of his activism.

He was accused of sending “false communications” via Facebook in February 2016, by posting the clown caricature of the prime minister with the intention of hurting the feelings of others.

He was charged in June that year at the Ipoh Sessions Court under the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 (Act 588), which carries a maximum fine of RM50,000, or a jail term not exceeding one year, or both.

On Tuesday, he was sentenced to a month’s jail and fined RM30,000.

Fahmi faces a similar charge at the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court, for hurting the feelings of others by posting caricatures of national leaders on his Instagram account.

“I will continue to fight this case, and am prepared to stand trial in the second clown caricature case in Kuala Lumpur this year, and will continue to defend my fundamental right to criticise corrupt authorities by using art as a weapon.” – February 22, 2018.