KUALA LUMPUR: The defamation suit filed by former Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Religious Affairs) Datuk Dr Mohd Na'im Mokhtar against blogger Wan Muhammad Azri Wan Deris, better known as Papagomo, will continue with the trial after both parties failed to settle the case amicably at the High Court here.
Lawyer Datuk Akberdin Abdul Kader, representing Mohd Na'im as the plaintiff, said the case failed to be resolved through mediation because the defendant (Wan Muhammad Azri) did not agree to the settlement terms.
"In this regard, the trial of the suit, which was set for Sept 21 and 24, will continue.
"However, the court has set March 6 for case management for both parties to inform if there is a settlement," the lawyer said when met by reporters after the case proceedings in the chambers of Judge Datuk Kenneth Yoong Ken Chinson St James, who acted as a mediator.
The mediation proceedings, which lasted for an hour, were also attended by Mohd Na'im and Wan Muhammad Azri with his lawyer Logen Eskandar Abdullah.
Mohd Na'im, who filed the suit on Oct 19, 2023, claimed that Wan Muhammad Azri published a post against him on the defendant's Facebook account known as 'Sir Azri' dated Sept 18 2023.
According to him, in the Facebook post, the defendant uploaded a video clip lasting six minutes and 41 seconds, which was a video clip taken from a TikTok account ‘@nurhafizulbadrulhisham’.
The plaintiff claimed that the defamatory statement, among other things, meant that the plaintiff, as Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Religious Affairs), did not make or take any positive action for the well-being of Islam, since the plaintiff allegedly had a case related to sexual or obscene allegations, then the plaintiff was a religious fanatic who did not care about the stability of the Malay Muslim community in Malaysia.
He claimed that the defamatory statements affected his reputation, damaged his dignity and honour and lowered the plaintiff’s status in the eyes of the general public. - Bernama
