Husam withdraws suit against blogger

PAS vice-president Datuk Husam Musa on Friday withdrew a RM5 million defamation suit which he filed against blogger Syed Azidi Syed Abdul Aziz, also known as Kickdefella, two years ago.

Husam, who was not present at yesterday's proceeding, which was held in chambers before High Court judge Datuk Seri Mariana Yahya, was represented by lawyer Ahmad Mustaqim Zaki, while Syed Azidi was represented by Datuk Jahaberdeen Mohamed Yunoos.

Jahaberdeen, when met outside the court, said Husam's lawyer told the court that he wanted to withdraw the suit with freedom to file it again in future.

He said, no grounds was given by the plaintiff for wanting to withdraw the suit. "They also asked for no cost to be incurred. I objected to it because the case is ongoing and three witnesses have already been called. I said they can withdraw, but without freedom to refile," he added.

Jahaberdeen said Mariana allowed Husam's application to withdraw the suit without freedom to refile. Husam was also ordered to pay cost of RM40,000 to Syed Azidi, he added.

Husam filed the suit on Sept 19, 2011, claiming that three articles posted on Syed Azidi's blog, kickdefella.wordpress.com, between January and July last year, contained defamatory elements about him.