High Court Judge Vazeer Alam Mydin Meera has set June 28 to hear the application by Utusan Melayu (Malaysia) Bhd and two other defendants to strike out the RM10 million defamation suit

filed against them by Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) former president Senator Dr Syed Husin Ali.

Syed Husin, 76, filed the legal action against Utusan Melayu, Utusan Group editor-in-chief Abdul Aziz Ishak and Kulim-Bandar Baru Member of Parliament Zulkifli Noordin on Jan 27, 2012.

He is seeking RM10 million damages, exemplary damages, interest, costs and other relief deemed fit by the court as well as an injunction to prevent the defendants from further publishing the alleged defamatory words.

In his statement of claim, Syed Husin stated that Utusan Melayu and Abdul Aziz had, with malicious intent, published words defamatory of him in an article dated Nov 20, 2011 headlined, ‘ Zul Noordin nafi dakwaan Syed Husin ’ (Zul Noordin denies allegation by Syed Husin) in the Utusan Malaysia newspaper.

He said Zulkifli had posted the same article in his personal website although under a different heading, ‘ Anjing-anjing Pencen ’ (Retired Dogs).

Meanwhile, Utusan Melayu and Abdul Aziz in their respective statement of defence filed on Feb 29, 2012, denied Syed Husin’s allegations, claiming they had reproduced what had already been published by Zulkifli in his blog.

They further claimed the article was reproduced with good intent, as information for the public.

Zulkifli, who filed his defence statement on Feb 28, 2012, said the article in his personal website was fair comment as it involved public interest.

- Bernama