Anwar withdraws suit against Deputy Foreign Minister

Opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has withdrawn his RM10 million defamation suit against Deputy Foreign Minister Datuk Hamzah Zainuddin.

Anwar's counsel, R.Sivarasa and lawyer Datuk Firoz Hussein Ahmad Jamaluddin, representing Hamzah, said in a joint press statement today that the suit had been amicably resolved on confidential terms between both parties.

The parties have decided that continuing this litigation is unnecessary and counterproductive bearing in mind the current political scenario and their current political responsibilities,"

Sivarasa said as far as the plaintiff was concerned, the disputed statement had not been repeated and both parties had agreed not to raise this matter again.

Anwar filed the suit on Aug 22, 2008. He claimed that Hamzah, who was Housing and Local Government deputy minister at the time, had uttered defamatory words about him which were published in an article titled "Anwar Harrassed My Wife" in Chinese daily Kwong Wah Jit Poh its Aug 19, 2008 edition.

The suit had been fixed for hearing today before High Court Judge Rosilah Yop.