Danish-Yemeni man jailed by Malaysia for spreading 'fake news' about Palestinian engineer's shooting

A Danish citizen was convicted by a Malaysian court on Monday for spreading fake news, after he criticised police in a video about the killing of a Palestinian engineer.

The man has become the first to be prosecuted by Malaysia under its controversial new anti-fake news law.

Salah Salem Saleh Sulaiman was prosecuted over a YouTube video in which he accused the Malaysian police of taking as long as 50 minutes to respond to the shooting of Fadi al-Batsh in Kuala Lumpur.

Police refuted the claim, saying that they took only eight minutes to arrive at the scene of what Hamas says was a Mossad assassination.

The charge against Sulaiman said he had "with ill intent, published fake news through a video on YouTube".

The 46-year-old pleaded guilty, saying that the  video had been made in a moment of rage.

"I agreed I made a mistake ... I seriously apologise to everybody in Malaysia, not just in the Malaysian police," he said.

Sulaiman was fined 10,000 ringgit ($2,500), however opted to stay a month in jail as he could not afford to pay the fine.

Malaysia's anti-fake news law, which was introduced in the run up to the country's general election on May 9, defines fake news as "news, information, data and reports which is or are wholly or partly false".

Those found guilty of spreading fake news can be fined a maximum of 500,000 ringgit ($127,500) and face a maximum of six years in jail.

Critics of the law say it was introduced to curb dissent and opposition to the government.