KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 27 — The defamation suit filed by former Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Religious Affairs) Datuk Mohd Na'im Mokhtar against blogger Wan Muhammad Azri Wan Deris, also known as Papagomo, will continue with the trial after both parties failed to settle the case amicably at the High Court.
Lawyer Datuk Akberdin Abdul Kader, representing Na'im as the plaintiff, said the case failed to be resolved through mediation because the defendant (Azri) did not agree to the settlement terms.
"In this regard, the trial of the suit, which was set for September 21 and September 24, will continue.
"However, the court has set March 6 for case management for both parties to inform if there is a settlement," he told the media after the case proceedings today in the chambers of Judge Datuk Kenneth Yoong Ken Chinson St James, who acted as a mediator.
The mediation proceedings, which lasted for an hour, were also attended by Na'im and Azri, who was accompanied by his lawyer Logen Eskandar Abdullah.
Na'im, who filed the suit on October 19, 2023, claimed that Azri published a post against him on the defendant's Facebook account known as 'Sir Azri' dated September 18, 2023.
He claimed that, in the Facebook post, the defendant uploaded a video clip lasting six minutes and 41 seconds, which was a video clip taken from a TikTok account ‘@nurhafizulbadrulhisham’.
The plaintiff added that the defamatory statement, among other things, meant that the plaintiff, as Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Religious Affairs), did not make or take any positive action for the well-being of Islam, since the plaintiff allegedly had a case related to sexual or obscene allegations, then the plaintiff was a religious fanatic who did not care about the stability of the Malay Muslim community in Malaysia.
Na'im claimed that the defamatory statements affected his reputation, damaged his dignity and honour, and lowered the plaintiff’s status in the eyes of the general public.
