THE Kuala Lumpur High Court today set March 22 to 26 next year to hear Zakir Naik’s two defamation suits against Penang Deputy Chief Minister II P. Ramasamy.

Justice Mohd Firuz Jaffril set March 1 for all witness statements to be filed. Case management is on October 13 this year.

Lee Mei Xian, of Messrs Ranjit Singh & Yeoh, appeared for Ramasamy while Akberdin Abdul Kader represented Zakir.

In the first suit, the 54-year-old Muslim preacher is suing the DAP politician for calling him “Satan” in a Facebook post in 2017 and for his essay “Is Malaysia harbouring alleged fugitive Zakir Naik?” published on Free Malaysia Today the same year.  

Ramasamy is also alleged to have further defamed Zakir with the claim that the Islamist preacher had questioned the loyalty of Malaysian Hindus to their country in a speech in Kota Baru, Kelantan, on August 11 last year.

The suit claims Ramasamy incited hatred for Zakir globally in an interview with India Today on August 22 last year.

In the second suit, Ramasamy is alleged to have blamed Zakir for the police detention of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam suspects in November, last year. Most of the detainees were DAP members.

Both suits will be heard together. The judge ordered that all pre-trial documents be filed by October.

In addition to general, aggravated and exemplary damages, Zakir is seeking an injunction to restrain Ramasamy from publishing and distributing reports in any medium depicting him as a person with bad character.

In his statement of claim, Zakir, who is from Mumbai, India,  said he was a “renowned preacher” and orator on comparative religion, and that he had received awards including the Tokoh Maal Hijrah International Personality Award in 2013.

Zakir is also suing more DAP politicians – former human resource minister M. Kula Segaran,  Bagan Dalam assemblyman Satees Muniandy, and Klang MP Charles Santiago.

Zakir accuses them of labelling him a national security threat in articles published by local news portals. – July 21, 2020.