The High Court in Kuala Lumpur today had to adjourn committal proceedings against blogger Amizudin Ahmat, who was sued by Information Communication and Culture Minister Dr Rais Yatim, because the defendant was missing.       

Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, who was representing Rais, said despite seven attempts to do so between Nov 25 and Dec 7 last year, he could not serve the committal proceedings papers on the blogger.  

He said on Jan 11, they tried to meet Amizudin, who appeared for his appeal hearing at the Court of Appeal in Putrajaya, but were unable to see him as once again he disappeared from the scene.

In the circumstances, Judge Zabariah Mohd Yusof then fixed Feb 2 for the committal proceedings.

On Nov 21 2011, the High Court granted Rais leave to initiate committal proceedings as the blogger had gone against a part of the court order prohibiting him from posting a defamatory article on Rais in his blog.  

Judge Zabariah made the order following the decision on the minister’s defamation suit against Amizudin on July 19, last year.

Rais won the suit and Amizudin was ordered to pay RM300,000 in damages and RM100,000 in cost.

On Jan 31, 2011, Rais, 69, sued Amizudin, 42, who is also a Parti Keadilan Rakyat Youth movement committee member, in relation to an article posted on sharpshooterblogger.blogspot.com on or around Dec 28, 2010.

In his claim, Rais said the Malay language article was malicious and defamatory and portrayed him as committing the serious offence of rape and that he was capable of murdering his Indonesian maid.  

A woman who had worked with the minister was later reported in an Indonesian news portal as saying she had never been raped or treated badly by her employer.

- Bernama