Court throws out ex-Hindraf detainee’s RM100m suit (Malaysiakini)

The Kuala Lumpur High Court today struck out a RM100 million defamation suit brought by Kota Alam Shah state assemblyman M Manoharan against the government, police chief Musa Hassan, attorney-general Abdul Gani Patail, and three newspapers.

The dailies involved are The Star, The New Straits Times and Utusan Malaysia.

Manoharan, who is legal advisor to the banned Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) and had been detained under the Internal Security Act (ISA) for 18 months, filed the suit on Sept 11 last year, alleging that they had linked him with a international terrorist organisation.

One of the reasons why he and four other Hindraf leaders were detained under the ISA was because of their alleged links with Sri Lanka separatist group Tamil Tigers.

Judicial commissioner Zabariah Mohd Yusof granted their application to strike out the suit after hearing submissions from both parties in chambers.

Manoharan, who is lawyer, when met by reporters, said he would appeal the ruling.

He said the court allowed the application by the government, Musa and Gani with costs.

Senior federal counsel Amarjeet Singh for the government, Musa and Gani said Zabariah allowed the application on grounds that the statement by Musa and Gani was made on an occasion of qualified privilege.

Manoharan had sought, among others, exemplary and aggravated damages, and an injunction to prevent Musa and Abdul Gani or their agents from repeating the alleged defamatory words against him.

Hindraf advocates non-violence

In his statement of claim, he said that Hindraf relied on peaceful means to brings about reforms and that the government had mounted a campaign to put him and Hindraf in a bad light.

He claimed that Musa and Abdul Gani had falsely and with malicious intent caused the defamatory words to be published in the three newspapers.

Manoharan also claimed that his detention under the ISA on Dec 13, 2007, at the Kamunting detention centre in Taiping was unlawful and politically motivated.

He was released on May 9, 2009.

He claimed that Musa and the government had used the defamatory words as a ground to detain him under the ISA.

The government, Musa and Gani – in their application filed on Nov 2, 2009 – said the suit was made in a vicarious capacity and was a plain and obvious case to strike out and the words were not defamatory as they did not refer to Manoharan to but to the organisation, Hindraf.

- Bernama