PAS has claimed a “moral victory” in the latest decision by a United Kingdom court over its president’s suit against whistle-blower website Sarawak Report.

The decision yesterday, which lawyers said favoured PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang, comes as the party struggles to pull ahead in of its rivals Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Harapan in GE14.

“The decision is a moral victory for us,” PAS election director Dr Ahmad Samsuri Mokhtar told reporters in Marang, Terengganu, Hadi’s parliamentary constituency, today.

“We have proven 70% of the suit against Sarawak Report,” Samsuri said of the significance of the British court’s decision to strike out the defence statement of Sarawak Report editor Clare Rewcastle-Brown in the suit.

The court ordered Rewcastle-Brown to pay £41,400 (RM228,000) to Hadi after the latter won all five interlocutory applications.

Hadi filed the defamation suit against the website at the London High Court on April 21 last year over an article published in August 2016 alleging that he received RM90 million from Umno in exchange for support for the ruling party.

Hadi has only won one preliminary application, however, and the court has set a provisional date for a full trial for 10 days in April 2019. – May 1, 2018.