PAS deputy president Mohamad Sabu, charged for defaming Bukit Kepong police officers, will have to return to the Butterworth Sessions Court in June to hear his case.

Judge Ikmal Hishan Mohd Tajuddin fixed June 11-13 to hear the case after the party deputy chief, popularly known as Mat Sabu, failed to strike out the case at the Penang High Court last month.

NONE Mat Sabu ( right ), who is former Pokok Sena MP, has since appealed against the decision and the case is pending at the Court of Appeal.

In December last year, the Kuala Lumpur High Court struck out a suit brought by him against the Umno-owned Utusan Melayu (Malaysia) Berhad over the publication of an article on the communist attack on the Bukit Kepong police station.

Mat Sabu was charged under Section 500 of the Penal Code for criminal defamation against the police officers and their families who fell victims to the communists in the Bukit Kepong tragedy in Johor in 1950.

He has denied the allegations which he had reportedly committed at a ceramah in front of a kindergarten at the PAS education centre at Padang Menora in Tasek Gelugor, Penang, on Aug 21 last year.

Mat Sabu, who is represented by Amirul Fariuzzeen Jamaluddin, faces a jail sentence of up to two years, fine or both, if found guilty.

The case is prosecuted by deputy public prosecutor Mohd Amril Johari.