Yusuf Al-Siddique Suratman was found guilty by Magistrate Ryan Sagirann Rayner Jr under Section 505 of the Penal Code which provides for two years' jail or fine or both, on conviction.
However, the court granted Yusuf's application for a stay of execution pending appeal to the High Court against the decision.
He was charged in June last year under Section 505 under the Penal Code, for causing fear among the people through a blog posting about measures undertaken by security forces during the incursion by armed Sulu men in Lahad Datu on the eastern coast of Sabah, which has been vulnerable to kidnappings by militants in the southern Philippines.
The blogger had published, on his blog (milosuam.blogspot.com), a document titled "Borang Utusan Polis" under the posting "Maklumat Sulit: Pendatang Asing Bakal Cetus Huru-Hara di Sabah".
The posting was made on March 6, 2013 and Yusuf was detained in Kuala Lumpur 2 months later.
Human rights group Lawyers for Liberty (LFL) highlighted that Yusuf was charged in Sabah despite the fact that he had written the article in Kuala Lumpur.
LFL co-founder Eric Paulsen said that Yusuf being charged in Kota Kinabalu meant that the group could not represent him in court.
"Lawyers from the Peninsula are unable to appear before the courts in Sabah. This situation placed our client in a precarious position, forcing him to find new lawyers in Sabah," he had said last year.
In February last year, about 200 armed followers of the Sulu sultanate came to Lahad Datu to revive the sultanate's claim to Malaysia's easternmost state.
The intrusion led to a standoff between the sultan's followers and Malaysian authorities, leading to the death of 52 Filipinos and 8 Malaysian policemen.
Sagiran in his ruling, among others, said the defence was only merely a denial and afterthought.
He said Yusuf had estimated there were five to seven administrators of the Milosuam blog but the failure of the defence to call any of these so-called administrators of the said blog proved this to be untrue.
Sagiran also ruled that all the evidence pointed to the conclusion that Yusuf at the material time as the owner of a laptop and blog had controlled and had access to the Milosuam blog.
During cross examination, Sagiran said Yusuf had admitted that he himself decided to take down the article and the 'Borang Utusan Polis' which was on his Milosuam blog.
Counsel Goldam Hamid who represented Yusuf, asked for only a fine to be imposed on Yusuf saying it was an appropriate sentence because the case was not a typical criminal case.
Goldam further submitted that his client believed the circulation of the 'Borang Utusan Polis' was not an offence and that Yusuf had suffered emotionally, mentally and financially due to the case.
Goldam also told the court that the offence was merely a technical offence. Deputy Public Prosecutor Nur Fakhizaa Abu Bakar urged the court that Yusuf be sentenced to prison rather than only a fine on the grounds that the offence was not merely a technical one.
Fakhizaa said as a very influential blogger, the contents of his blog was readable to thousands of citizens in Malaysia and with the content in this case, if only a fine were imposed on him, it would show that any blogger whether pro-government or opposed to the government, can post whatever evidence or information to public security.
She said in considering the situation in Sabah at the point of time, the feeling of the victims' family and security officers who had been deployed to Sabah, the circulation of such information affected those concerned.
Fakizaa further said, even though the case was not a general crime but more a cyber crime issue, whatever crime under the Penal Code should not be overlooked as not being a serious offence.
Seventeen prosecution and one defence witness were called during the hearing.
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