Khalid Samad wins suit against Utusan

Khalid was defamed by the newspaper, rules the High Court.

KUALA LUMPUR: Shah Alam MP Khalid Abdul Samad today won his defamation suit against Utusan Melayu (Malaysia) Bhd over an article published in its newspaper two years ago.

High Court Judge Prasad Sandosham Abraham ruled that Khalid had proved his case and that the plaintiff (Khalid) was libelled and defamed by the defendants in the article.

In his oral decision, Prasad said the defendants had also downloaded the article from a blog without checking the contents despite their sensitive nature.

In the suit filed last year, the PAS MP named Utusan Malaysia and Mingguan Malaysia group editor-in-chief Aziz Ishak and the publisher of Utusan Malaysia and Mingguan Malaysia, Utusan Melayu, as the defendants.

Khalid claimed that on Sept 11, 2009, Aziz had, with malice, allowed the publication and printing of defamatory words against him on the front page of Utusan Malaysia.

He also said that the article titled “Zulkifli bidas Pak Janggut” (Zulkifli admonishes Bearded Man) directly or indirectly referred to him even though his name was not mentioned.

The judge set Oct 11 for the decision on the quantum of damages.

Source : Bernama