KUALA LUMPUR – The high court here today granted Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob an ad interim (temporary) injunction against Datuk Lokman Noor Adam in the prime minister’s suit over an alleged defamatory statement on the latter’s social media accounts.
Lawyer Ragunath Kesavan, representing Ismail Sabri, said judge Datuk Ahmad Shahrir Mohd Salleh allowed the temporary injunction pending the disposal of the injunction hearing on November 29.
“The court ordered the defendant (Lokman) to file an affidavit in reply by October 11 and for the plaintiff to file in by October 25. The court also directed both parties to file written submissions by November 8 and to file written submissions in reply by November 22,” the lawyer told the media after proceedings today, which were held virtually.
On September 12, Ismail Sabri obtained an interim injunction from the high court for Lokman to immediately delete all videos on his social media accounts that allegedly defamed him.
The court ordered Lokman to remove a video, with the title “Bila Presiden Umno Panggil Tak Datang! Tapi PM Ada Masa Jumpa Mahathir – Lokman Adam (When Called by Umno President, He Doesn’t Come! But the PM Has Time to See Mahathir – Lokman Adam)”, which was uploaded on his YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok accounts – and also issued an injunction to prevent him, either through himself or his agents, from making similar statements on social media or any other website belonging to him.
Ismail Sabri, 62, applied for the injunction in a suit he filed against Lokman, 49, last September 8.
The prime minister, who is Umno vice-president, filed the suit in his personal capacity. He named Lokman, who is an Umno member, as the sole defendant.
In the statement of claim, Ismail Sabri stated that Lokman had on August 22 made defamatory statements against him in the video mentioned above.
The prime minister claimed the malicious, defamatory, and untrue statements were uploaded on four social media accounts belonging to the defendant, namely the “Lokman Adam” Youtube, “Lokman Noor Adam Official” Facebook, “lokmanooradam” Instagram, and “datoklokmanadam” Tik Tok accounts.
According to Ismail Sabri, the words meant, among other things, that he had met with Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and planned or intended to plan with the former prime minister and other opposition political parties to remain as prime minister by betraying Umno.
Ismail Sabri claimed that he had never met with Dr Mahathir and other political parties for the purpose nor had he engaged in unprincipled measures to prevent the dissolution of Parliament for a general election to be held so that he could remain as prime minister.
Last September 1, Lokman pleaded not guilty in the sessions court here to two charges of making and initiating offensive communications against Ismail Sabri and the government through the Facebook app under the profile name “Lokman Noor Adam Official”. – Bernama, September 26, 2022
