FORMER prime minister Najib Razak marked his one year in prison with a poster on Facebook decrying the cruelty towards him.

A post on the page read: “Sudah setahun dalam penjara #JusticeforNajib” (it has been a year in prison), and with the poster captioned: “Genap Setahun Najib Terus Dizalimi (exactly one year of Najib being oppressed).”

Najib was sent to jail in Sungai Jelok after exhausting his appeal over his graft conviction linked to the state-owned wealth fund 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB), a development fund the former prime minister launched after taking power in 2009.

The 70-year-old became the country’s first former prime minister to be sent to jail.

It was on this date last year that the Federal Court upheld a lower court’s conviction and 12-year sentence on his final appeal for misappropriating RM42 million in SRC International funds.

In 2020, the High Court had found him guilty on seven charges of corruption for illegally receiving RM42 million from SRC International, a former unit of 1MDB.

Apart from the 12 years’ jail, he was also fined RM210 million.

Najib then appealed the conviction and sentence and was out on bail during the appeal.

The Court of Appeal, on December 8, 2021, upheld the High Court’s ruling.

Najib again appealed the ruling.

However, the five-man Federal Court bench that heard the final appeal were unanimous in their decision that the High Court’s decision was correct and that Najib’s appeal was “devoid of any merits”.

The former Pekan MP’s supporters believe he was a victim of political persecution despite being investigated across the globe in cases linked to 1MDB.

Najib still faces a total of 42 charges in five separate trials linked to 1MDB. – August 22, 2023.