Court suggests Mahathir, Zahid settle libel suits without contest
Published on: Friday, April 14, 2023
By: FMT
The Kuala Lumpur High Court is scheduled to hear two libel suits involving Dr Mahathir Mohamad (left) and Ahmad Zahid Hamidi in September and November.
PETALING JAYA: The High Court has suggested that Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Ahmad Zahid Hamidi explore the possibility of settling two defamation suits between them instead of going to trial.
Mahathir’s lawyer, Mior Nor Haidir Suhaimi, said deputy registrar Afidah Idris asked the parties about this option during a case management today.
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“I informed the deputy registrar that there is no such instruction as yet from the client (Mahathir),” he told FMT.
Afidah fixed another case management on July 14 to update the court if there was a possibility of parties going for mediation.
Counsel Hanis Afiqah Razali appeared for Zahid, who is the Umno president and a deputy prime minister.
The court had earlier fixed a four-day trial beginning on Sept 11 to hear Mahathir’s suit against Zahid in relation to Zahid’s allegedly derogatory use of the name “Kutty” to refer to the former prime minister.
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In his statement of claim, Mahathir alleged that Zahid had defamed him during an Umno divisional meeting in Kelana Jaya on July 30, 2017.
Mahathir claims the statement was meant to imply that he was not born a Malay or a Muslim, and that his original name was “Mahathir son of Iskandar Kutty”.
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In his defence, Zahid said the name “Mahathir son of Iskandar Kutty” referred to an individual based on information from an old copy of an identity card.
Zahid also said he also had no control over the republication of the statement on any media platform.
Meanwhile, Mahathir was sued over his claim that Zahid had sought his help to get corruption charges against him “dropped”.
The High Court has fixed a four-day trial for the suit beginning on Nov 6.
At a Feb 23, 2022 press conference, Mahathir claimed that Zahid and several others had met him at his home just after the 14th general election in 2018.
He is alleged to have said Zahid wanted to be “friendly” with him before Mahathir became the prime minister for a second time in May 2018.
Zahid claimed Mahathir’s remarks were untrue, unwarranted, unsubstantiated and mischievous.
Mahathir, in his defence, stood by his remarks and said he would contest the suit.
Both suits are scheduled to be heard before Justice Rozana Ali Yusoff.
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