KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 27): Former Penang deputy chief minister P Ramasamy and controversial Islamic preacher Zakir Naik are locked in another defamation suit. This time, the former DAP politician is suing the religious preacher over alleged comments that Ramasamy is "the biggest enemy of Islam".
This suit comes on the heels of the High Court's decision early last month that ordered Ramasamy to pay RM1.52 million in damages and cost for defaming Zakir. While Ramasamy is appealing against the decision, the amount, which the politician raised through crowdfunding within a week, has been paid.
The latest legal action revolves around Zakir's alleged comments during his speech titled " Al Qur’an: The Global Necessity" in Nigeria early last month. The preacher allegedly made the comments in reference to the court case.
In the suit filed on Dec 3, the former DAP leader said that a video of the international preacher's speech was later uploaded to a Facebook account under Zakir's name with 23 million followers.
Ramasamy added that as of early November, the video had gained 171,000 views, 30,000 reactions, 2,000 comments, and was shared by more than 7,000 users. He added that the video was also downloaded by several users in Malaysia and shared on other platforms.
According to the court documents seen by The Edge, Ramasamy said the video was uploaded on the social media site with the caption "“Dr Zakir Naik Donates US$320,000 towards Palestine Cause” for maximum audience reach.
He said that since the video was uploaded in "public mode", to be viewed by anyone, this could be considered a publication to the entire world.
The politician claimed that the preacher's comments were defamatory and made in bad faith, and could be taken to mean that he is a racist and someone who is anti-Islam.
Ramasamy said that while he had made a police report and sent a letter of demand to Zakir through his solicitors in early November, there was no response.
Ramasamy is seeking general, aggravated and exemplary damages, and an injunction for Zakir to apologise to him on Facebook and all major Malay, English, Chinese and Tamil language newspapers.
The former DAP politician is also seeking an injunction for the video to be taken down, and to bar Zakir or his agents from repeating similar allegations in the future.
In this case, Ramasamy is represented by Messrs SS Thind, while Zakir is represented by Messrs Akberdin & Co.
Case management for the matter was held on Wednesday, where the court directed Zakir to file his defence before or on Jan 16, and for Ramasamy to file his response by or on Feb 9.
The next case management date is Feb 19.