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KUALA LUMPUR (Bernama): The High Court here on Monday (September 21) reported that the defamation lawsuit filed by former Minister of Federal Territories Khalid Abdul Samad (Photo) against the online news portal, Free Malaysia Today (FMT) and its former editor-in-chief, settle amicably.
The lawsuit was based on a defamatory article involving the eighth prime minister between former Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad and PKR President Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
Lawyer Mohamed Ashmeer Mohamed Ashrof, representing Khalid, told reporters that the court had urged both sides to debate to find a solution to the case.
“If a solution is not reached, the court has set two days from July 1 next year for the hearing,” he said after the matter was raised in the courtrooms of Judge Datin Rohani Ismail, adding that the The court had also set December 10 for case management.
On June 23, Amanah’s director of strategic communications, who is the plaintiff, filed the lawsuit and named Abdar Rahman Koya and FMT Media Sdn Bhd as the first and second defendants.
In his statement of claim, Khalid, who is also a deputy for Shah Alam, stated that on February 26, both defendants had published an article titled “Khalid presses, tell Dr. M to give way to Anwar” on the portal news after referring to the plaintiff’s statement. Post on Twitter the same day.
Khalid claimed that the defendants had translated their Twitter post into English in their own words, without obtaining any confirmation from the plaintiff, and that the defamatory article was accessible through the news portal.
Khalid further claimed that the article, among others, meant that the plaintiff had demanded the resignation of Dr. Mahathir from his post as Prime Minister or Acting Prime Minister and was rude and disrespectful to an experienced and high-ranking political figure.
It also alleged that although the defendants had released a statement apologizing to the plaintiff, it was not made public and the first defendant (Abdar) had mocked the plaintiff and insisted that the Twitter post was appropriate.
As such, the plaintiff seeks general, compensatory, aggravated, and exemplary damages, costs, and a court order to prevent the defendants from publishing the article, in addition to an order requesting both defendants to issue a statement of apology in the terms agreed by the plaintiff .- Bernama
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