KUALA LUMPUR – The hearing of Datuk Mohd Puad Zarkashi’s application to set aside the interim injunction obtained by Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin to restrain him from republishing the alleged defamatory statements involving the prime minister on his Facebook page, has been postponed to July 26.
During the virtual case management today, high court judge Datuk Mohd Seri Mohd Firuz Jaffril also set the same date for hearing Muhyiddin’s application for an inter partes injunction order.
Muhyiddin’s lawyer Rosli Dahlan when contacted said the hearing for both applications was supposed to take place today, but has been postponed following the implementation of the nationwide lockdown from June 1 to 14.
“Therefore, the court extends the ad interim injunction obtained by the plaintiff (Muhyiddin) pending the hearing of the inter partes injunction and the defendant’s (Puad) application to cancel the injunction on July 26 on the same terms as the ex parte interim injunction order,” he said.
Lawyer Shahrul Fazli Kamaruzaman, who is representing Puad, confirmed the matter.
On March 1, Muhyiddin obtained an ex parte interim injunction order from the court to restrain Puad, an Umno Supreme Council member, from republishing allegedly defamatory statements over a quarantine order involving the prime minister on his (Puad) Facebook page.
In his application filed with the writ of summons, Muhyiddin applied for an interim injunction to restrain Puad, or his agent, representative or anyone from republishing, reposting and resharing the allegedly defamatory statements on Puad’s Facebook page.
Muhyiddin filed the application on grounds that the statements by Puad are false, defamatory and had tarnished the reputation and the good name of the prime minister locally and internationally.
Meanwhile, in a writ of summons filed in his personal capacity, Muhyiddin claimed that on February 8, Puad had published a post on his Facebook account under the name “DrPuad Zarkashi” with the title “Kuarantin pun ada dua darjat?”.
Muhyiddin claimed that the post could be accessed by Internet users across the world, and that it had received 1,200 reactions, 215 comments and 182 shares.
He claimed the post referred to “PM”, which is an abbreviation for “prime minister”, and that the post contained untrue, unwarranted, unsubstantiated and mischievous remarks against him and defamed him.
Muhyiddin claimed that the statements implied that he and his entourage had refused to undergo quarantine for 10 days upon their return from their official trip to Jakarta, Indonesia. – Bernama, June 11, 2021
