Court orders Ibrahim Ali to pay Anwar

(Bernama) – The High Court has dismissed an application by Perkasa president Ibrahim Ali to set aside a court order allowing opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, to commence committal proceedings against him.

Justice John Louis O’Hara ordered Ibrahim to pay RM5,000 in costs to Anwar.

In his decision, Justice O’hara ruled that Anwar had established a prima facie test to initiate contempt proceedings against Ibrahim.

“I rule against the application and dismiss it,” he said.

The court also fixed Aug 26 for case management.

Anwar was represented by counsel R. Sivarasa and Ibrahim by counsel Rajinder Singh.

On April 5, Ibrahim filed to set aside the committal proceedings on the grounds that he and/or Perkasa were not responsible for the article and had no control over the website, www.pribumiperkasa.com.

On March 5, O’Hara granted Anwar’s application for committal proceedings against Ibrahim and the writer of the article, Zainuddin Salleh.

On Jan 17, Anwar filed the application, alleging that the article posted on the Perkasa website on Jan 7, had tarnished the image of the High Court judge who presided over the opposition leader’s defamation suit against Utusan Melayu (Malaysia) Bhd and its editor-in-chief, Abdul Aziz Ishak.

The defamation suit was related to articles published by the defendants on Anwar’s interview by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).

The judge had on Jan 21, last year ruled that the two articles published by Utusan Melayu (Malaysia) Bhd on Anwar’s interview by the BBC, regarding homosexual laws, were defamatory.

Anwar, in his application for committal proceedings, alleged that the article on the Perkasa website contained personal attacks against the judge that amounted to contempt, and published before the latter made his ruling.