Ismail Sabri obtains temporary injunction against Lokman Adam over defamatory statement

KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court here today granted Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob an ad interim injunction against Datuk Lokman Noor Adam in his suit over an alleged defamatory statement on the latter's social media accounts.

Lawyer Ragunath Kesavan, representing Ismail Sabri, said Judge Datuk Ahmad Shahrir Mohd Salleh allowed the temporary injunction pending the disposal of the inter partes injunction hearing on Nov 29.

"The court ordered the defendant (Lokman) to file an affidavit in reply by Oct 11 and for the plaintiff to file in by Oct 25. The court also directed both parties to file written submissions by Nov 8 and to file written submissions in reply by Nov 22," the lawyer told the media after proceedings which were held virtually today.

On Sept 12, Ismail Sabri obtained an interim injunction from the High Court for Lokman to delete immediately all videos on his social media accounts that allegedly defamed him.

The court ordered Lokman to remove a video, with the title 'Bila Presiden UMNO Panggil Tak Datang! Tapi PM Ada Masa Jumpa Mahathir - Lokman Adam', which was uploaded on the defendant's YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok accounts and also issued an injunction to prevent the defendant either himself or his agents from making similar statements on social media or any other website belonging to the defendant.

Ismail Sabri, 62, applied for the injunction in a suit he filed against Lokman, 49, last Sept 8.

The prime minister, who is UMNO vice-president, filed the suit in his personal capacity. He named Lokman, who is an UMNO member, as the sole defendant.

In the statement of claim, Ismail Sabri stated that Lokman had on Aug 22 made defamatory statements against him in a video, with the title "Bila Presiden UMNO Panggil Tak Datang! Tapi PM Ada Masa Jumpa Mahathir - Lokman Adam" (When Called by UMNO President, He Doesn't Come! But the PM Has Time to See Mahathir - Lokman Adam).

He claimed the malicious, defamatory and untrue statements were uploaded on four social media accounts belonging to the defendant, namely "Lokman Adam" Youtube, "Lokman Noor Adam Official" Facebook, "lokmanooradam" Instagram and "datoklokmanadam" Tik Tok.

According to Ismail Sabri, the words meant, among other things, that he had met with Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and planned or intended to plan with the former prime minister and other opposition political parties to remain as prime minister by turning his back on and betraying UMNO.

Ismail Sabri claimed that he had never met with Dr Mahathir and other political parties for the purpose nor had he engaged in unprincipled measures to prevent the dissolution of Parliament for a general election to be held so that he could remain as prime minister.

Last Sept 1, Lokman pleaded not guilty in the Sessions Court here to two charges of making and initiating offensive communications against Ismail Sabri and the government through a Facebook application under the profile name "Lokman Noor Adam Official".

-- BERNAMA