Prosecutors in Malaysia have agreed to withdraw an appeal over the conviction of a Malaysian human rights activist who screened the ‘No Fire Zone’ documentary highlighting massacres committed by the Sri Lankan military during the final stages of the armed conflict on the island.
Lena Hendry, a former programme director for media rights NGO Pusat Komas, was convicted over the screening of the documentary and eventually fined Malaysian Ringgit 10,000.
The prosecution had appealed for a harsher sentence, stating that the documentary screening was held without public approval.
Pusat Komas welcomed the withdrawal, stating that Ms Hendry had been “unjustly targeted and persecuted for merely carrying out her human rights work”.
“She should, instead, be provided with protection and recognition for the work she has been doing as a human rights defender,” the NGO added.
The documentary’s director Callum Macrae tweeted that whilst the “decision should be celebrated… the conviction should never have happened in the first place”.