KUALA LUMPUR, 8 Jan: The Kuala Lumpur High Court set 14 April for the hearing of the defamation suit filed by PR Vice President, Nurul Izzah Anwar, against Utusan Melayu (M) Bhd, in relation to the newspaper report of the statement of religious freedom.
Justice Hue Siew Kheng allowed for the appeal from Utusan to postpone the trial, which should have been from 22 to 24 January, to 14, 15 and 18 April.
The suit involved four articles published by Utusan Malaysia from 5 to 7 November, which Nurul Izzah claimed to have defamed her.
The title of the articles were; ‘Melayu bebas pilih agama? Rakyat tidak harus dipaksa amal ajaran tertentu – Nurul Izzah Anwar’ (Malays free to choose religion? The people should not be forced to practice certain teachings – Nurul Izzah Anwar) which was published on the front page of the newspaper, dated 5 November, and ‘Nurul Izzah cuba gadai Islam, Melayu’ (Nurul Izzah is Trying to Mortgage Islam), published on the fifth page on 6 November.
The other articles were; ‘Naib Presiden PKR letak akidah lebih rendah daripada politik’ (PKR Vice President Places Faith Below Politics), which was published on the fifth page on 6 November and ‘Kenyataan Nurul Izzah bertujuan jadikan Malaysia negara pluralisme agama’ (Nurul Izzah’s Statement Aimed at Making Malaysia a Pluralistic Religious Country) which was published on page five on 7 November.
Nurul Izzah as the plaintiff named Utusan Melayu and its group editor-in-chief Datuk Aziz Ishak as defendants.
The Lembah Pantai Member of Parliament filed the suit through the legal firm, Tetuan Mohamed Hanipa & Associates, at the Registry of the High Court on 23 November.
Nurul Izzah appealed to the court for the defendant to apologise, to withdraw the statement and to provide compensation.
She also asked for the defendant to not issue any defamatory statements again.
