KUALA LUMPUR – The owner of the Facebook account “N13 Kuang,” Mohd Fauzan Madzlan, was ordered by the high court here today to file his statement of defence by January 15, 2024 in response to Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil’s suit against him.
Fahmi filed a defamation suit against Fauzan on September 5 to refute allegations that he had made a political speech at a mosque in Rawang, Selangor.
Fahmi’s lawyer Asheeq Ali Sethi Alivi said the court also ordered the minister to file his response to the defence on or by January 29, 2024.
“The court set February 7, 2024, for case management to allow both parties to update the filing status and interlocutory filing (if any),” said Asheeq Ali when contacted after the e-review case management before senior assistant registrar Nur Shasha Hidayah Nor Azahar today.
Fahmi has also filed suits against independent speaker Ahmad Dusuki Abd Rani and blogger Wan Muhammad Azri Wan Deris, better known as “Papagomo,” on the same matter.
In his statement of claim, Fahmi claimed that the three defendants had published defamatory words by accusing him of abusing a place of worship, namely a mosque, to campaign for an election, contrary to the orders by the sultan of Selangor.
Fahmi claimed the defamatory words were posted on Fauzan’s Facebook and Dusuki’s Facebook and Instagram pages on July 31, as well as Wan Azri’s TikTok and Facebook pages on August 1.
He also claimed that the slanderous statements were baseless and the Selangor Islamic Religious Council had confirmed that he did not make any political speech as alleged by the defendants.
Therefore, he is seeking general damages, aggravated or exemplary damages, and an injunction to restrain the defendants from repeating or causing the republication of the defamatory statements. – December 28, 2023