Court Dismisses Lecturer S Defamation Suit Against Khalid Samad

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Kamarul Zaman Yusoff (left) had sued Amanah communications director Khalid Samad over an opinion piece published in an online portal.PETALING JAYA: The Kuala Lumpur sessions court has dismissed a defamation suit brought by Universiti Utara Malaysia lecturer Kamarul Zaman Yusoff against Shah Alam MP Khalid Samad.
Judge Zulqarnain Hassan ruled that Khalid had successfully raised the defence of fair comment, said Amanah central committee member Faiz Fadzil in a statement today.
The lecturer was instructed by the court to pay RM10,000 in costs. Kamarul was represented by Mohd Harris Mohan while Faiz represented Khalid.
Kamarul had filed the suit against Khalid in July 2020 over an opinion piece by the Amanah communications director published in an online portal.

The article was published in May 2017 in response to Kamarul’s criticisms of Segambut MP Hannah Yeoh’s book titled “Becoming Hannah: A Personal Journey”.
Earlier this month, the Kuala Lumpur sessions court struck out another defamation suit brought by Kamarul against seven DAP leaders, as the trial judge’s orders were not complied with.
Kepong MP Lim Lip Eng was awarded RM5,000 in costs, while DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang, Chong Chieng Jen, Wong Kah Woh, Syerleena Abdul Rashid, Farid Mohd Azmi and Ariffin SM Omar were awarded a total of RM3,000 in costs.
In March 2017, Kamarul lodged a police report against Yeoh, who was the Selangor state assembly speaker then, for allegedly driving a “Christian agenda” through her book published in January 2015.
The DAP leaders issued statements against Kamarul, which he deemed were defamatory, resulting in the suits being filed in 2020. - FMT

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