Maria, who was then Bersih 2.0 chairman, had on October 7, 2016 sued Jamal for defamation. — Picture by Razak Ghazali

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 31 — The High Court here today ruled that Red Shirts leader Datuk Seri Jamal Yunos had defamed polls reform group Bersih 2.0’s former chairman Maria Chin Abdullah, her lawyer said.

Lawyer N. Surendran said High Court judge Datuk Mohd Zaki Abdul Wahab’s decision was in favour of his client Maria, noting that the judge held that Jamal’s remarks were “defamatory of Maria and had the effect of lowering her reputation”.

“Jamal had failed to prove his defence of qualified privilege as there was no moral or legal duty to make the statements to public,” Surendran said of the judge’s decision.

Surendran said the judge also ruled that Jamal had failed to prove the facts to support his second defence of fair comment.

He added that the High Court ordered Jamal pay RM300,000 to compensate Maria over the defamatory remarks and to also pay costs of RM40,000.

Surendran appeared for Maria today together with lawyers Latheefa Koya and Shahid Adli Kamarudin.

Jamal’s lawyers today were V. Mugunthan, Mohammed Nasser Yusof, Mohamad Fauzi Abdul Samad.

Maria, who was then Bersih 2.0 chairman, had on October 7, 2016 sued Jamal for defamation.

She claimed that Jamal had made defamatory remarks on September 28 and October 4, 2016 by allegedly claiming that the Bersih 2.0 movement had been infiltrated by terrorist group Islamic State (IS).

She further claimed Jamal had allegedly accused the Bersih 2.0 group of plotting to surround two international airports (KLIA and KLIA2) and key government buildings.

Latheefa confirmed to Malay Mail that Maria had three witnesses during court hearings for the defamation lawsuit, including Maria herself, activist Hishamuddin Rais and PKR leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

As for Jamal, he had four defence witnesses, including himself, and three subpoenaed witnesses: Johor PKR chairman Hassan Karim, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and former inspector-general of police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar.

The hearing for the defamation lawsuit had concluded on July 23, when the judge had then repeatedly reminded Jamal that he could not just make claims in court without backing them up with evidence.

Maria, who is now Petaling Jaya MP, wrote on Twitter this afternoon: “Yes!!!! Won case against Jamal who defamed BERSIH and accused us related to IS and Daesh! RM300k plus interest was awarded to BERSIH.”