Hadi files defamation suit against Sarawak Report editor

PAS President Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang has filed a defamation suit against Sarawak Report editor Claire Rewcastle-Brown, who is based in London.

PAS secretary-general, Datuk Takiyuddin Hassan, told Astro AWANI that the suit was filed on April 21.

“We have already sent a notice of complaint to Rewcastle-Brown long ago. PAS President has instructed his lawyer in London to sue Rewcastle-Brown,” said Takiyuddin when contacted today.

In a statement, Takiyuddin explained that the suit was filed over an article titled “As Najib denies all over 1MDB, let’s not forget his many other criminal connections” published on August 6, 2016.

“The article included statements that were made to understand that PAS president personally received or obtained or approved the acceptance of a large amount of money from Prime Minister Najib, in exchange for a compromise on PAS’ political stand.

"All those allegations are not true at all. These sort of corruption allegations damage and affect the reputation of a person like the PAS president who is committed to the democratic process over the years and all his actions clearly reflect his adheres to the principles of Islam.

“As such, the PAS President has instructed his London lawyers, Carter-Ruck, to send a ‘letter of complaint’ to Rewcastle Brown at the end of 2016, to request for the article to be taken down and to publish an apology.

“However, Rewcastle-Brown completely failed to respond to the complaint and instead, made a few public statements that made the situation worse,” he said in the statement.

He added PAS would not let such allegations go without being challenged and they had no choice but to file the defamation suit at the London High Court.