KUALA LUMPUR – The high court here rejected an application by PAS to strike out a defamation suit by Datuk Seri Mujahid Yusof against the party relating to claims that the Amanah vice-president supported the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community.
Mujahid’s counsel, Noorazmir Zakaria, said judge Datuk Ahmad Shahrir Mohd Salleh made the decision yesterday and ordered the party to pay RM3,000 in costs to Mujahid and set the trial for November 24 to 26, 2025.
Lawyer Mohd Faizi Che Abu, representing PAS, meanwhile said that the court had rejected their application after finding issues that needed to be addressed, including whether the Facebook account was owned by PAS.
On February 15, PAS, represented by its secretary-general Datuk Seri Takiyuddin Hassan, filed an application to strike out Mujahid’s suit on the basis that he as plaintiff failed to reveal any reasonable clause of action against the party.
Mujahid filed his suit on December 15, 2022, claiming that on October 16 the same year, PAS as defended had with malicious intent deliberately damaged his reputation and slandered him by making or publishing a defamatory statement on the party’s Facebook account.
As such, he seeks a court order for a retraction and to delete the defamatory statement and his photograph within 14 days from the judgment, in addition to general, exemplary, and aggravated damages.
In its statement of defence, PAS claimed that the plaintiff’s statement of demand was flawed and invalid as he failed to name the offender who had control and published the article in question. – Bernama, June 22, 2023
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