Cartoonist charged

Malaysian authorities have charged a prominent cartoonist with sedition over his criticism of the jailing of opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim.

Zulkiflee Anwar Haque, known as Zunar, faces court action over tweets he sent about the widely condemned ruling.

Zunar said the nine charges - one for each tweet he sent - were a bid by the government to silence him. Rights groups have accused Malaysian authorities of using the sedition laws to suppress dissent.

"They are really trying to shut me off from criticising the government, so I think it's clearly politically motivated," AFP news agency quoted Zunar as saying.

The well-known cartoonist had accused Prime Minister Najib Razak of influencing the judiciary in the case of Anwar.