Anwar wins defamation suit against Khairy

The High Court here today ordered Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin to pay RM150,000 in general damages to former Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim for uttering defamatory words against the latter during a ceramah (political talk) in Lembah Pantai in 2008.

Judge Azizul Azmi Adnan made the decision after finding that Khairy, as the defendant, had indeed defamed Anwar and that the defamatory words uttered by Khairy were serious as the case involved a well-known politician.

"The words were uttered at a public function and were published and spread widely to others," he said.

The judge also ordered Khairy to pay RM60,000 in costs to Anwar.

However, the judge dismissed Anwar's application for aggravated damage after finding that there was no element of malice in Khairy's speech.

The court also dismissed Khairy's application to amend his statement of defence to say that his remark was a fair comment.

The case was initially solved after 12 witnesses testified after the trial commenced on Sept 19, 2016. However, Khairy filed an application to amend his statement of defence.

Anwar filed the defamation suit against Khairy on March 7, 2008, seeking RM100 million in damages and claiming that Khairy, who was then UMNO vice-chief, had uttered defamatory words against him (Anwar) and caused the publication of a video clip titled "Anwar and kin no threat" on news portals, including Malaysiakini.com.

Anwar claimed that the video clip contained part of the defamatory speech given by Khairy during a ceramah in Lembah Pantai here on or around Feb 20, 2008.

Meanwhile, counsel Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah representing Khairy told reporters that they would file an appeal at the Court of Appeal on Monday. -- Bernama