KUALA LUMPUR – Controversial preacher Zakir Naik has until January 16 next year to file his defence in response to a defamation suit brought against him for labelling former Penang deputy chief minister II P. Ramasamy as “the biggest enemy of Islam”.
This was decided by the Kuala Lumpur High Court’s senior assistant registrar Nur Shasha Hidayah Nor Azahar during an e-review session this morning.
Aside from damages, Ramasamy is seeking an injunction to force Zakir to make a public apology on his Facebook page and in mainstream newspapers of various languages as well as to refrain from repeating the alleged slander.
Ramasamy also has up to February 9 to file his response to Zakir’s claims made in an eight-minute video of his speech made in Nigeria that was uploaded to the preacher’s official Facebook account on November 4.
Case management is set on February 19, 2024. Ramasamy was represented by Shamsher Singh Thind while Datuk Akberdin Abdul Kader appeared for Zakir.
In November, Ramasamy had lodged a police report at the Bukit Mertajam district police headquarters over the video, claiming that Zakir’s words could “constitute criminal defamation and improper use of multimedia”.
The former DAP man also issued a letter of demand against Zakir over the same video.
On November 2, the high court here ordered Ramasamy to pay RM1.52 million to Zakir after judge Hayatul Akmal Abdul Aziz found Ramasamy’s defence in the defamation suit filed by Zakir was unacceptable.
She found that the former DAP member could not prove the truth or appropriately justify the publication of his impugned statements, including one where he called Zakir a “satan”. – December 27, 2023