The hearing of the RM5 million suit filed by PAS vice-president Husam Musa against a blogger for allegedly posting three articles which defamed him starts today after both parties failed to reach an agreement for an out of court settlement.

During the proceeding today, two witnesses for the plaintiff, Kelantan State Development Corporation assistant manager (projects and property) Ismail Shauki Ibrahim and Kelantan Menteri Besar Incorporated chief operating officer Sanusi Osman, were called to testify.

NONE Husam ( left ), who is the Kelantan Economic Planning, Finance and Welfare Committee chairperson, was supposed to be called as the first witness in the case, but he had a prior official engagement and could not attend today’s proceeding.

High Court justice Mariana Yahya then postponed the hearing and set Feb 28 and March 1, 4, 5, 7 and 8 to continue hearing the case.

Yesterday, she had given both parties until today to discuss towards resolving the case out of court.

Meanwhile, lawyer Jahaberdeen Mohamed Yunoos, representing the blogger, known as Kickdefella, and whose real name is Syed Azidi Syed Abdul Aziz, said he had discussed with Husam’s lawyer, Hisham Fauzi, to resolve the matter out of court, but both parties could not reach to an agreement.

He said the defendant would produce five witnesses, adding that they would also apply for the court to subpoena a few Kelantan government leaders to testify as witnesses.

They include Menteri Besar Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat, Deputy Menteri Besar Ahmad Yaacob and the state Local Government, Tourism and Culture Committee chairperson Takiyuddin Hassan, he added.

Husam filed the suit on Sept 19 last year, claiming three articles posted on the blog, kickdefella.wordpress.com , between January and July last year contained elements which defamed him.

The articles were ‘ Husam telah menipu rakyat dan sahabat ’ (Husam has cheated the people and friends), ‘ Sebelum kita lupa Normala Sudirman ’ (Before we forget Normala Sudirman) and ‘ Husam itu pembohong ’ (Husam is a liar).

On Oct 9 the same year, Syed Azidi applied to have the case transferred to the Kuala Lumpur High Court.

However, last April 17, the Chief Judge of Malaya ordered the case to be transferred to the Kuantan High Court after Kota Bharu High Court judge Ahmad Zaidi recused himself from presiding the case.

- Bernama