Pengguna FB gagal tangguh bayaran RM300,000 kepada mufti Perlis

The High Court has dismissed an appeal by a Facebook user seeking to delay payment of RM250,000 in defamation damages to Mufti Perlis Asri Zainul Abidin, who claimed the user was associated with GISB Holdings Sdn Bhd. The Attorney General's Chambers also rejected a related request from Nawawi Abdul Razak to postpone a RM50,000 court fee.

Despite this, the 39-year-old defendant was granted until the conclusion of an appeal to submit a request for pardon. The court permitted the defendant to postpone payment of the damages until after the appeal decision. The defendant's lawyer, Mahmud Abdul Jumaat, argued that the defendant's family was facing financial difficulties and needed time to seek a loan to cover the damages and related costs.

Mahmud also argued that requiring the defendant to apologize before hearing the appeal could undermine his case. The defendant's lawyer, Fatima Zulaikha Ahmad Bashri, challenged the claim, stating that the defendant's financial situation cannot be considered a special circumstance that should delay the payment. In July, the court ruled that the first of four statements filed by the defendant was pernicious.

However, the court found that the defendant failed to prove three of the remaining statements met the legal requirements to be considered pernicious. The defendant filed the lawsuit in October 2024, accusing the plaintiff of publishing four statements deemed pernicious, some of which portrayed him as a leader or supporter of the GISBH movement, and suggesting that the defendant had a close relationship with the group and used their cause for personal gain.

The plaintiff, in turn, argued that the plaintiff's claims were exaggerated, misleading, and designed to elicit sympathy from the court.