Muhyiddin sues Umno's Puad Zarkashi for defamation over Facebook post, gets injunction against similar remarks

• Published date: 01 March 2021
• Publication title: Malay Mail Online

Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin filed a defamation lawsuit today against Umno supreme council member Datuk Mohd Puad Zarkashi, seeking compensation and an apology over a Facebook post.

Along with the lawsuit filed at the High Court here this morning, Muhyiddin's lawyers also today filed a certificate of urgency for an ex-parte application for an interim injunction or temporary injunction to stop Puad from publishing the alleged defamatory Facebook post or contents similar to the Facebook post.

Rosli Dahlan, one of Muhyiddin's lawyers, told Malay Mail that High Court judge Datuk Seri Mohd Firuz Jaffril granted the interim injunction against Puad, with this court order to be in place until the court decides the application with both parties present.

'The grounds of the application have all been fulfilled and the affidavits show all the facts. The court is satisfied that the defendant must be restrained until the final disposal of the inter-parte hearing,' Rosli said when explaining the reasons for the High Court's granting of the temporary injunction against Puad.

The other lawyers who represented Muhyiddin in the court hearing this afternoon for the interim injunction through the ex-parte application were Datuk DP Naban and Louis Liaw.

In Muhyiddin's ex-parte application for the interim injunction against Puad sighted by Malay Mail, he sought for the High Court to order for the temporary injunction to stop Puad or his associates and representatives from publishing, posting, sharing or resharing the alleged defamatory Facebook post or similar and related statements to the Facebook post's contents.

In the ex-parte interim injunction application, Muhyiddin had asked the court to state that it is 'contempt of court' for anyone who breaches or causes the breaching of the injunction despite knowing of such an injunction, and that an inter-parte hearing of the interim injunction be heard within 14 days from the granting of the ex-parte interim injunction.

In arguing why the interim injunction application should be allowed, Muhyiddin's lawyers said in the written application that there was urgency in the matter as Puad's Facebook post and the alleged defamatory statements would continue to hurt Muhyiddin's reputation until they are removed, having noted that the Facebook post was widely read and was reported by news agencies.

Muhyiddin's lawyers also said Puad's alleged defamatory Facebook post can be accessed by internet users globally, with over 1,200 reactions...