High Court dismisses Dusuki’s appeal in suit against Mujahid

The High Court in Shah Alam today dismissed Ahmad Dusuki Abd Rani’s appeal against the Sessions Court decision on his defamation suit involving former minister in the prime minister’s department (religious affairs) Mujahid Yusof Rawa.

Mujahid’s counsel Noorazmir Zakaria said the court also ordered the former PAS 14th general election (GE14) candidate to pay RM7,000 in costs.

He said Ahmad Dusuki filed the lawsuit over Mujahid’s (above) Twitter post on Nov 22, 2020.

Previously, the Shah Alam Sessions Court dismissed the Kompleks Darul Thibbunnabawi adviser’s suit with a cost of RM11,000.

“When dismissing Ahmad Dusuki’s appeal today, Judge Khadijah Idris gave brief grounds.

“Among them was the court found that the defendant (Mujahid) had, on a balance of probabilities, proven justification behind his statement.

"Testimony showed that the disputed statement was a response to a statement by the plaintiff (Ahmad Dusuki) which was uploaded to YouTube on Feb 20, 2020, regarding Tabung Haji having sold its assets comprising of TH Hotel, which was assets of Muslims to non-Muslims and that it was a sin that would be carried until the afterlife (akhirat),” Noorazmir said.

“Testimony also showed there was an explanation in Parliament by a former prime minister that the sale of the non-competitive TH asset was transferred to a special purpose company fully owned by the Minister of Finance Incorporated (MOF Inc) and that TH is not controlled by non-Muslims,” he added.

According to Noorazmir, the judge also opined that the transfer was part of TH’s plan for rehabilitation and restructuring approved by the cabinet when Mujahid was the religious affairs minister.

Previously, Ahmad Dusuki filed a lawsuit against Mujahid over the online posting to demand an apology through the media as well as unspecified damages.

Noorazmir said the court also found that the plaintiff’s testimony agreed that the TH hotel was not sold to non-Muslims. - Mkini