If Umno and Prime Minister Najib Razak are successful, they will apply to get judgment without contest, says lawyer Hafarizam Harun.
PETALING JAYA: The High Court has fixed March 15 to hear Prime Minister Najib Razak and Umno’s application to strike out Malaysiakini’s defence over a series of readers’ posts published in the news portal.
Lawyer Mohd Hafarizam Harun said the two had applied to remove a number of paragraphs in the defence of Mkini Dotcom Sdn Bhd and two Malaysiakini editors.
“If we are successful, we will apply to get judgment without having to go through a trial,” he told FMT.
A case management was held today in Seremban before judge Kamaludin Said who has been transferred there.
Earlier this week Mkini and the editors failed to recuse the judge on grounds of bias from hearing a defamation suit filed by Najib and Umno executive secretary Ab Rauf Yusoh, who is representing the party.
They had also wanted a new judge to hear the suit which is in the early stage of proceedings.
The duo, who filed the suit in 2014, had also named Malaysiakini editor-in-chief Steven Gan and former chief editor Fathi Aris Omar over compilation of readers’ comments in two ‘Yoursay’ articles published on May 14 – ‘A case of the PM reaping what he sows ’ and ‘How much will Najib spend to keep Terengganu?’.
They claimed the news portal had marred their reputation by claiming that Umno was incompetent as a political party and as the backbone of the Barisan Nasional. -FMT
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