KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 14 (Bernama) -- The High Court today ordered Utusan Melayu (Malaysia) Berhad to pay RM60,000 in compensatory damages to Shah Alam Member of Parliament Khalid Abdul Samad for publishing an article defamatory to him in its newspaper two years ago.
High Court Judge Dr Prasad Sandosham Abraham awarded the amount to Khalid after hearing submissions from both parties on assessement of damages.
Dr Prasad said in awarding the amount, he had taken into consideration that the article had not directly referred to Khalid, and the original author of the article had not been sued by Khalid.
On Sept 30, Khalid won his suit against Utusan Melayu after Dr Prasad ruled that Khalid had proven that he been defamed by the defendants in the article.
In the suit filed last year, the PAS MP had named Utusan Malaysia and Mingguan Malaysia group editor-in-chief Datuk Aziz Ishak and the publisher of Utusan Malaysia and Mingguan Malaysia, Utusan Melayu, as the defendants.
Khalid claimed that on Sept 11, 2009, Aziz had, with malice, allowed the publication and printing of defamatory words against him on the front page of Utusan Malaysia.
He also said that the article titled "Zulkifli bidas Pak Janggut" (Zulkifli admonishes Bearded Man) directly or indirectly referred to him even though his name was not mentioned.
The defendants in their statement of defence stated that the publication was made based on a commentary by Kulim-Bandar Baharu Member of Parliament, Datuk Zulkfli Noordin in his blog on Sept 9, 2009.
-- BERNAMA
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