The High Court today allowed an application by Perak Menteri Besar Zambry Abd Kadir to enter a judgment against PKR president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail and four others over a suit regarding a defamatory article published by Suara Keadilan .

The decision was made today by senior assistant registrar Noordura Mohammad Din, who ordered damages to be assessed later.

NONE She had earlier heard submissions from Zambry’s counsel Firoz Hussein Ahmad Jamaluddin and counsel for the defendants Ranjit Singh.

Zambry ( right ) applied to enter judgment under Order 27 (Rule 3) of the Rules of the High Court 1980 following an admission by the defendants in their statement of defence.

"The judgment was entered based on the statement by the defendants in their  statement of defence ," said Firoz Hussein.

The case was originally set for Nov 16, but was postponed to today after Ranjit applied for an adjournment.

Zambry named Wan Azizah, as in her capacity as an office bearer of PKR, party deputy president Syed Husin Ali, the chief editor of Suara Keadilan , the publisher of the newspaper, Pelita Koridor Sdn Bhd and printer Percetakan NPK Sdn Bhd.

NONE In the RM100 million suit, which was filed on Feb 25, Zambry claimed the article entitled Zambry disyaki pengganas gagal masuk ke Amerika Syarikat (Zambry denied entry to US on suspicion of being a terrorist) published in Suara Keadilan was defamatory, and he had suffered serious damage to his public, personal and political reputation.

He said the article in the Dec 29, 2009-Jan 5 issue meant that he was suspected of being a terrorist and was unfit to hold the post of the Perak menteri besar.

Zambry denied he was not allowed entry into the United States and did in fact enter the US and was duly accorded recognition of his status as the Perak menteri besar. 

He contended that his visit to the US was widely reported in the media and the defendants had intentionally published the defamatory words.

The defendants, in their statement of defence, stated that an apology entitled Mohon Maaf Dr Zambry (Sorry Dr Zambry) and withdrawal of the article were published in the newspaper dated March 30.

Firoz Hussein told reporters that the court had also fixed Nov 29 for case management for both parties to argue before a judge over the other allegedly defamatory words in the suit.