THE High Court in Kuala Lumpur ordered Lokman Noor Adam to file his defence today in response to a defamation suit filed against him by Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob.

Lawyer Joshua Tan, who represented Ismail, said his client has been given until October 25 to reply to Lokman’s defence.

“The court fixed November 25 for further case management,” he said today.

On September 12, Ismail obtained an ex-parte injunction against Lokman for him to immediately delete all videos in question on his social media accounts.

An inter-parte hearing will be held on November 29.

On September 8, Ismail, 62, stated that Lokman had on August 22 made defamatory statements against him in a video, titled “Bila Presiden Umno Panggil Tak Datang! Tapi PM Ada Masa Jumpa Mahathir – Lokman Adam (When called by the Umno president, he doesn’t come! But the PM has time to see Mahathir – Lokman Adam)”.

He claimed the statements were malicious, defamatory and untrue. They were uploaded on Lokman’s four social media accounts: Lokman Adam Youtube, Lokman Noor Adam Official Facebook, lokmanooradam Instagram and datoklokmanadam Tik Tok.

According to Ismail, the words meant that he had met with Dr Mahathir Mohamad and planned or intended to plan with the former prime minister and other opposition political parties to remain as prime minister by turning his back and betraying Umno.

Ismail also claimed that he had never done so nor was engaged in unprincipled measures to prevent the dissolution of parliament for a general election to be held, so that he could remain as prime minister.

On September 1, Lokman pleaded not guilty in the Sessions Court to two charges of making and initiating offensive communications against Ismail and the government through his Facebook profile. – Bernama, October 11, 2022.