Court to hear Jan 26 lawyer’s bid to get a judgment against Raja Petra

(Bernama) — The High Court will hear on Jan 26 lawyer Datuk Seri Dr Muhammad Shafee Abdullah’s application to get a judgment against Raja Petra Raja Kamarudin in his defamation suit against the blogger.

High Court Deputy Registrar Norazlin Othman set the date in chambers today after meeting Muhammad Shafee’s lawyer, S. Ravindran, and J. Chandra, who represented Raja Petra, when the case came up for case management.

Chandra told reporters Muhammad Shafee’s application would be heard before High Court Judge Datuk John Louis O’Hara.

He said Muhammad Shafee made the application under Order 14A of the Rules of the High Court 1980 for the disposal of the suit based on a point of law, claiming that the words in the articles and the comments posted on the Malaysia-Today website are defamatory.

Chandra said he had submitted the court papers relating to the hearing today, while the plaintiff (Muhammad Shafee) would submit tomorrow.

In Aug 2008, Muhammad Shafee filed the suit against Raja Petra, 58, for posting three articles on Aug 6, 7 and 11, 2008, titled “Shafee Abdullah: Sodomologist Extraordinaire”, “Money, Power and Sex: What Motivates Man” and “The Real Dalang Behind The Anwar Sodomy Allegation” on the website which he said had defamed him.

On Aug 13, 2008, he obtained an ex-parte injunction from the High Court ordering Raja Petra to remove the articles as well as all comments on the articles from the website.

In a statement of defence filed on Nov 25, 2008, Raja Petra denied that the three articles were false, malicious or defamatory of the lawyer.