KUALA LUMPUR – A Malaysian couple has named Facebook in a court action filed at the Kuala Lumpur High Court to determine the real identities of individual(s) behind eight Instagram accounts.
It is understood that retiree Mariani Saad, who was a civil servant for 29 years, and her husband, Abu Jamal Sulaiman, need the identities of those behind the accounts to undertake legal proceedings against them.
Facebook currently owns Instagram.
They initiated the action on January 9 last year following allegations made in the Instagram accounts that they had kidnapped an underprivileged teen named Muhammad Aisy Aakiff and abused their own children.
Based on an affidavit signed by Mariani sometime around 2015, Aisy, who was then 15, and his friends had helped Abu Jamal with some catering activities under a work-while-studying programme.
He had done so with the permission of his principal at the Serendah Vocational School (PPKKS).
He then developed a good relationship with Mariani and Abu Jamal, and considered them his parents.
“Based on that reason, Aisy stayed in our house at times when he did not have class with the permission of the school principal,” Mariani said in the affidavit.
Aisy had then informed the couple that he had a good relationship with Syahril Azwan, a staff member of the Welfare Department. However, according to Mariani, Aisy later ran away from Syahril.
In 2018, Aisy went to the couple’s home before the release of his Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia results and asked if he could live with them.
Mariani said that she was then informed by someone, believed to be from the National Welfare Foundation, that she and Abu Jamal had been accused by Syahril and a man by the name of Ustaz Izudin of hiding Aisy from the school. She said that this allegation is false.
The couple said they also received a call from a police officer who said a police report had been lodged against them for kidnapping Aisy.
Aisy, however, explained to the police his version of events and some disturbances, allegedly by Syahril, stopped temporarily, she said.
Months later, however, disturbances resurfaced in the form of Instagram posts and poison pen letters, including statements that the couple had kidnapped Aisy and used him as a male prostitute.
One of the poison pen letters eventually reached the police. This led to the police raiding the couple’s home to investigate whether their children had been raped or endured sexual and physical abuse.
A few other Instagram accounts also appeared with allegedly defamatory posts against the couple, stating that they practised black magic to kidnap children.
Mariani said that she and Abu Jamal have been married for 33 years and were not able to produce their own children. They adopted eight children, six of whom are now successful graduates while two are still in school.
The couple intends to get information of the account users from Facebook to initiate a defamation suit against the alleged perpetrators.
Last September, Facebook filed a notice stating its intention to appeal certain technical matters involving the case to the Court of Appeal.
On February 17, 2021, the high court ordered a stay in proceedings pending determination of the technical matters by the Court of Appeal. – The Vibes, March 11, 2021
