Hadi agrees to out-of-court settlement with Rewcastle Brown over Sarawak Report defamation suit

Clare Rewcastle Brown, the author of the The Sarawak Report book and the person behind the website of the same name.

PETALING JAYA: PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang has agreed to an out-of-court settlement for his defamation suit against UK-based Sarawak Report editor Clare Rewcastle Brown.

Both Abdul Hadi and Rewcastle Brown are subjected to an undisclosed agreement regarding this settlement, according to a statement by Abdul Hadi’s political secretary Syahir Sulaiman.

The Marang MP has finalised the out-of-court settlement through a consent order dated Feb 1 at the London High Court of Justice.

“Hadi consented to withdraw his claims against Rewcastle Brown as the defendant while Rewcastle Brown has withdrawn her counterclaims against Abdul Hadi.

“There is no order as to costs,” said the statement.

Syahir said Abdul Hadi reached the decision after scrutinising all the court actions taken against him by Rewcastle Brown and after taking into account his lawyer’s advise.

PAS had sued Rewcastle Brown for libel over an article she published on Aug 6, 2016, alleging the party had received RM90mil in bribes from Umno.

She filed a counterclaim on October 2017.