KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 11 — The High Court here ordered Datuk Lokman Noor Adam to file his defence today in response to a defamation suit filed against him by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob.

Today is the deadline for Lokman to file a statement of defence against the suit.

Lawyer Joshua Tan, who represented Ismail Sabri said his client has been given until Oct 25 to reply to Lokman’s defence.

“The court fixed Nov 25 for further case management,” he said when contacted by Bernama after today’s online case management proceedings (e-Review) before senior assistant registrar Haleez Hasnan.

On Sept 12, Ismail Sabri obtained an ex-parte injunction against Lokman for him to immediately delete all videos on his social media accounts that allegedly defamed the prime minister.

An inter-parte hearing will be held on Nov 29.

On Sept 8, Ismail Sabri, 62, as the plaintiff filed the suit in his personal capacity, naming Lokman, 49, as the sole defendant.

In the statement of claim, Ismail Sabri stated that Lokman had on Aug 22 made defamatory statements against him in a video, with the title ”Bila Presiden UMNO Panggil Tak Datang! Tapi PM Ada Masa Jumpa Mahathir - Lokman Adam” (When Called by Umno President, He Doesn’t Come! But the PM Has Time to See Mahathir - Lokman Adam).

He claimed the malicious, defamatory and untrue statements were uploaded on four social media accounts belonging to the defendant, namely ”Lokman Adam” Youtube, ”Lokman Noor Adam Official” Facebook, “lokmanooradam” Instagram and “datoklokmanadam” Tik Tok.

According to Ismail Sabri, the words meant, among other things, that he had met with Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and planned or intended to plan with the former prime minister and other opposition political parties to remain as prime minister by turning his back and betraying Umno.

Ismail Sabri also claimed that he had never met with Dr Mahathir and other political parties for the purpose nor was engaged in unprincipled measures to prevent the dissolution of Parliament for a general election to be held so that he could remain as prime minister.

On Sept 1, Lokman pleaded not guilty in the Sessions Court to two charges of making and initiating offensive communications against Ismail Sabri and the government through a Facebook application under the profile name “Lokman Noor Adam Official”. — Bernama