PUTRAJAYA – The Court of Appeal in Putrajaya has unanimously dismissed the appeal of a religious teacher, who appealed to set aside the decision by Kota Bharu High Court on 26 June 2018 for defaming Datuk Husam Musa.
The teacher, Masri Che Yusoff, was charged for uploading a post on his Facebook on 27 October 2015, accusing the former Vice-President of PAS for awarding a 414.37 hectares land to a private company.
Husam then denied the slanderous article entitled, Sahaja Aku Faridhkan Tanah 414.37 hektar kepada Akademi Pembangunan Keluarga Bahagia Bhd (APKB).
In a summary judgement, the three panel judges which consisted of Datuk Suraya Othman, Datuk Lee Heng Cheong and Datuk Indera Mohd Suffian Abd. Razak delivered the judgement that Husam has successfully proven that the Facebook post was a libel.
Masri, however, failed to prove the three defences raised; justification, fair comment and qualified privilege.
Therefore, the court decided to maintain the judgement made by Kota Bharu High Court Judge, Datuk Ahmad Bache on 26 June 2018.
Masri was the Ketereh PAS Committee Member, Kelantan PAS Ulamak Hall member and a teacher of a religious school in that state when he uploaded the libel statement on his social media.
Masri needs to pay RM150,000 in compensation to Husam, according to the decision by the Kota Bharu High Court on 10 February as no appeal was filed on the amount.
He also needs to pay for the appeal court fees amounting to RM15,000 on top of the previous cost determined by the Kota Tinggi High Court of RM10,000 and RM5,000.
Husam was represented by lawyers Faiz Fadzil and Faizal Abdullah, meanwhile, Masri was represented by Yusfarizal Yussoff and Mohd Faizi Che Abu. – MalaysiaGazette
