KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 7 — Communications and Digital Minister Fahmi Fadzil filed lawsuits against three individuals, including blogger Wan Muhammad Azri Wan Deris, better known as "Papagomo”, for allegedly accusing him of giving a political talk in a mosque in Rawang, Selangor.

The other two defendants named by the Lembah Pantai Member of Parliament are independent speaker Ahmad Dusuki Abd Rani and the owner of the Facebook account "N13 Kuang”, Mohd Fauzan Madzlan.

Lawyer Asheeq Ali Sethi Alivi, representing Fahmi, told Bernama that the three suits were filed on September 5 at the High Court here through Messrs Asheeq Ali & Company.

Based on the statement of claim, Fahmi said the three defendants had published defamatory words by accusing him of abusing a place of worship, which is a mosque, to campaign for an election and had acted contrary to the orders of His Majesty the Sultan of Selangor.

Fahmi claimed that the defamatory words were posted on Wan Muhammad Azri’s Tik Tok and Facebook accounts on August 1, while on Mohd Fauzan’s Facebook account and Ahmad Dusuki’s Facebook and Instagram accounts on July 31

According to Fahmi, the slanderous statements were baseless and the Selangor Islamic Religious Council had confirmed that he did not give any political speech as accused by the defendants.

He also claimed that the defamatory statements were made with the aim of defaming his good name in order to gain cheap publicity or create a sensation in the national political arena, as well as to tarnish his reputation as a member of parliament and a Cabinet minister.

He said letters of demand had been sent to the three individuals for them to withdraw the defamatory statements, pay damages and publish an apology to him, but none had done as requested.

According to Fahmi, the three defendants still maintained the slanderous statements on their social media pages.

As such, he is seeking general damages, aggravated or exemplary damages, and an injunction to prevent all the defendants from repeating or causing the re-publication of the defamatory statements.

He is also seeking the three defendants to withdraw the defamatory statement through their social media accounts and to make an apology through all mass media and online media where the content of the apology must be agreed upon by him.

The suits against Ahmad Dusuki and Mohd Fauzan have been set for case management before Senior Assistant Registrar Nur Shasha Hidayah Nor Azahar on October 5, while the suit involving Wan Muhammad Azri is set on October 9 before Deputy Registrar Aisyaf Falina Abdullah. — Bernama