A 25-year-old information technology analyst arrested for allegedly insulting Kedah Menteri Besar Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor has been released on police bail.

The IT analyst’s wife, who wanted to be known as Ika, said she was relieved to know her husband had been released on police bail, as he was initially to be remanded for three days.

When contacted, Ika, who is two months’ pregnant, expressed her happiness but admitted she had been traumatised by her husband’s arrest last night.

He was detained in Aulong, Taiping, last night and brought to Sg Petani for questioning, over a comment made on Facebook against Sanusi who made insensitive remarks about containers used to store dead Covid-19 patients.

Media reported that a team of eight policemen, mostly in plainclothes, had gone to the couple’s home in Taiping at about midnight yesterday to detain the IT analyst.

Ika said she is now on way to the Sg Petani police station to pick up her husband.

“I thank God for everything. I am so happy upon knowing that he is released on police bail.”

“I am on my way to Sg Petani from Taiping. I am driving alone,” she said this afternoon.

A source from the Kuala Muda district police headquarters confirmed the man has been released on police bail, but did not disclose further details.

Sanusi has been criticised and called “stupid” by social media users after a video of him at a press conference went viral, in which he made a joke about containers being used as temporary morgues to store dead Covid-19 patients. He “invited” reporters who wanted to volunteer to go into these containers to give him their names.

The PAS leader has since apologised and said his joke was taken out of context. However, police reports have been lodged by one of his aides.

A total of four people including the IT analyst had been arrested for lashing out at the Kedah menteri besar on social media over his joke.

On Monday, a 61-year-old senior citizen was arrested at home in Lenggeng, Negri Sembilan, on suspicion of making hurtful comments about Sanusi in a nine-minute-long video posted on Facebook.

Yesterday, police detained two men, a 52-year-old private employee and a 45-year-old trader in Kepala Batas and Mergong Perdana, Kota Setar, at 5.15pm and 6pm, also for criticising Sanusi.

Police have been urged to drop these investigations, which are a suppression of the right to freedom of expression, and focus on more important matters.

Earlier today, DAP lawmaker Lim Kit Siang said Inspector-General of Police Acryl Sani Abdullah Sani must order a stop to the ongoing investigation into critics of the PAS leader.

Penang Deputy Chief Minister ll P. Ramasamy has also said police should not be wasting their time arresting people for criticising Sanusi over his insensitive joke.

Ika earlier told Free Malaysia Today there were many other terrible comments made by the public towards Sanusi on his official Facebook page.

“What my husband said was not as bad as what others have said openly on social media. He was upset. 

“At a time when Covid-19 cases are spiking, there are people who are trivialising deaths. That is why he made his comments,” she told the portal. – August 11, 2021.