Kedah Mb S Appeal Hearing Over Defamation Case Postponed

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Court of Appeal has postponed the hearing of an appeal by Kedah Menteri Besar Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor against a High Court's order for him to pay RM50,000 in damages to Pokok Sena MP Mahfuz Omar for defamation.
Judge Lee Swee Seng, who led a three-man bench, informed counsels in the appeal, in an online proceeding, that the bench could not hear the appeal today as they have a meeting at 3pm.
Prior to that, the bench heard several other appeal cases and it went on until 2pm today. The bench had to hear two other cases today, including Sanusi's appeal.
Lee, who presided with judges Nordin Hassan and Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali, then ordered for case management to be held tomorrow to fix a new hearing date.
On Nov 8 last year, the High Court in Kuala Lumpur ordered Sanusi (above) to pay RM50,000 in damages to Mahfuz after allowing the latter's defamation lawsuit.
Judicial Commissioner Mohd Arief Emran Arifin also ordered Sanusi to write an apology to the plaintiff (Mahfuz) on the former's Facebook page and pay him RM15,000 in legal costs.
Pokok Sena MP Mahfuz OmarThe court also issued a restraining order against Sanusi and his agents to refrain from publishing defamatory words against Mahfuz in the future.
Mahfuz filed the suit against Sanusi on Oct 9, 2019, over a post made by the latter on his Facebook account on July 30 of the same year, which linked Mahfuz to the transfer of a Sports Toto outlet to the latter’s area.
Mahfuz also claimed that Sanusi posted a 7-minute and 57-second video on his Facebook account on July 27, 2019, which showed a group of individuals protesting the opening of a Sports Toto outlet in Pokok Sena, while holding a banner bearing the plaintiff's name.
Lawyers Yusfarizal Yussoff and Mohd Faizi Che Abu represented Sanusi, while Mahfuz was represented by counsel Noorazmir Zakaria.
- Bernama

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