Damages in suit against RPK to be assessed on July 28
(The Star) – The High Court, which ruled in February that blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin is liable over three articles that were defamatory of senior lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, has set July 28 for case management of the suit.
Lawyer Jadadish Chandra, representing the blogger, told the media that the court set the date for the case management for the assessment of damages.
Muhammad Shafee had filed the suit against Raja Petra, 58, in 2008 for posting on Aug 6, Aug 7 and Aug 11 that year the three articles, titled “Shafee Abdullah: Sodomologist Extraordinaire”, “Money, Power and Sex: What Motivates Man” and “The Real Dalang Behind The Anwar Sodomy Allegation”, on the Malaysia Today website, which Muhammad Shafee claimed had defamed him.
On Aug 13, 2008, Muhammad Shafee obtained an ex-parte injunction from the High Court ordering Raja Petra to remove from the website the three articles as well as all comments related to them.
In a statement of defence filed on Nov 25, 2008, Raja Petra denied the three articles were false, malicious or defamatory of the lawyer.
On Feb 10 this year, High Court judge Justice John Louis O’Hara held that the offending words in the articles were defamatory of Muhammad Shafee and ruled that Raja Petra was liable for defamation.
The judge ordered for damages to be assessed by a registrar.
In his judgment, Justice O’Hara stated Raja Petra had admitted the articles were published but he (Raja Petra) denied publishing articles which were false and malicious.
Justice O’Hara said that although the commentaries posted on the portal were defamatory of Muhammad Shafee, the court could not determine whether Raja Petra was liable for the publication of the commentaries through this application to dispose of the suit based on point of law.
Muhammad Shafee made an application on Jan 26 under Order 14A of the Rules of the High Court 1980 for the disposal of the suit based on a point of law without going for a full trial, claiming that there were defamatory words in the three articles posted on the website.
