THE hearing of Anwar Ibrahim’s defamation suit against former Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate for Permatang Pauh Mazlan Ismail and two others has been postponed to January next year.

Judicial commissioner Faizah Jamaludin fixed January 22-25 for the hearing after lawyer Sangeet Kaur sought a postponement due to Anwar’s medical examinations which are scheduled this week.

Anwar filed the suit on October 15, 2015 naming Mazlan, Sistem Televisyen Malaysia (TV3) and Utusan Melayu (M) Bhd as first, second and third defendants, for implying that he bribed judges and prosecutors.

“The dates are vacated over the next few days because Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is going for a few medical examinations.

“And we couldn’t get common free dates between all parties so the nearest one unfortunately is on January 22 until 25,” Sangeet told reporters after the court adjourned this afternoon.

Anwar, who earlier read his witness statement, alleged that Mazlan had uttered defamatory words in a media conference, causing TV3 to broadcast the defamatory words on its prime time news, Buletin Utama on August 2, 2013 and Utusan Malaysia to publish it the following day.

“By right I should be hospitalised this week but I have to attend the hearing out of respect for the court,” the former deputy prime minister said.

Mazlan, who is former Penang PAS deputy commissioner, claimed in 2013 that he received “6,000 surat layang” from an unknown sender, alleging  that Anwar and the late Karpal Singh were involved in judicial fixing.

Mazlan at that time said the letters were sent to his home in Bukit Mertajam in early August 2013.

Anwar and Karpal denied the claims and lodged a police report.

Anwar said the words were seriously defamatory and malicious which portrayed him as corrupt, unethical, dishonest, immoral, and having engaged in criminal activities.

Apart from general, aggravated and exemplary damages, Anwar is also seeking an injunction to prevent the defendants from repeating or further publishing the alleged defamatory remarks. – June 13, 2017.