FACEBOOK user “N13 Kuang”, whose real name is Mohd Fauzan Madzlan, was ordered by the Kuala Lumpur High Court to file his defence statement by January 15 in response to Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil’s suit.

The Lembah Pantai MP filed a defamation suit against Fauzan on September 5 to refute allegations he had made a political speech at a mosque in Rawang, Selangor.

Fahmi’s lawyer Asheeq Ali Sethi Alivi said the court ordered the minister to file his response to the defence statement on or by January 29.

“The court set February 7, 2024, for case management to allow both parties to update the filing status and interlocutory filing,” Asheeq Ali said when contacted after online case management before senior assistant registrar Nur Shasha Hidayah Nor Azahar today.

Fahmi also filed suits against Independent speaker Ahmad Dusuki Abd Rani and blogger Wan Muhammad Azri Wan Deris, better known as “Papagomo”, over the same matter.

In his statement of claim, Fahmi claimed three defendants had published defamatory words by accusing him of abusing a place of worship to campaign for an election, contrary to the Selangor sultan’s orders.

Fahmi claimed the defamatory words were posted on Fauzan’s Facebook and Dusuki’s Facebook and Instagram pages on July 31, as well as Wan Azri’s TikTok and Facebook pages on August 1.

Fahmi also claimed the slanderous statements were baseless and the Selangor Islamic Religious Council had confirmed he did not make any political speech as alleged by the defendants.

The minister was seeking general damages, aggravated or exemplary damages, and an injunction to restrain the defendants from repeating or causing the republication of the defamatory statements. – Bernama, December 28, 2023.