KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 6 — Utusan Malaysia’s lawyers sought again today to cite Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s second sodomy conviction to mitigate the damages for defaming the former deputy prime minister, after a previous bid was rejected at the Court of Appeal.
When cross-examining Anwar in the Kuala Lumpur High Court today, Utusan’s lead lawyer Datuk Firoz Hussein Ahmad Jamaluddin attempted to get Anwar to say why he was currently imprisoned given his impeccable reputation as state by his lawyers.
“Could you tell us why are you detained in the Sungai Buloh prison?” Firoz asked, adding that a criminal conviction would fundamentally determine a person’s reputation.
The question angered the packed courtroom filled with Anwar’s family members and supporters and tensions began to rise.
Anwar’s lead counsel, N. Surendran, stood and argued that such a question is irrelevant as Anwar has already won the defamation suit.
“This is an assessment of damage and there is no need for further arguments,” Surendran said.
High Court judge Justice Datuk Hue Siew Kheng later allowed Firoz to include the question on Anwar’s second sodomy conviction in his plea, which would be heard tomorrow before a judgment is made as to whether the question can be posed to Anwar as part of Utusan’s defence.
The court then adjourned and hearing will continue at 10 am tomorrow.
On Sept 4, the Court of Appeal rejected a submission by Utusan Melayu (M) Bhd, the publisher of Umno-owned Utusan Malaysia, to use Anwar’s sodomy conviction in appealing the latter’s defamation suit against it.Utusan also sought to amend its submission to include the recent sodomy conviction in evaluating his character and assessing the damages of the civil suit which the High Court had already ruled in favour of Anwar in January 2013.
The Court of Appeal also decided to uphold Hue’s initial decision to deny the amendment.
The RM50 million defamation suit was filed by Anwar in January 2012 against Utusan for publishing two articles on his comments to British news BBC during an interview on homosexuality laws in its daily.
Anwar previously told the court that Utusan’s articles against him were made before the 13th General Election and had impacted Muslim readers mostly, as these portrayed him as an infidel.
On February 10, Anwar was sentenced to five years’ jail after the country’s apex court upheld an earlier Court of Appeal ruling that reversed his acquittal of sodomising former aide Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan.
The verdict also ended Anwar’s legal options to challenge the conviction.
MALAY MAIL ONLINE
No comments :
Post a Comment