Perak state executive councillor Hamidah Osman was ordered by the High Court in Shah Alam today to pay RM150,000 to Shah Alam MP Khalid Samad for defamation.

 

The assessment of damages was made by senior assistant registrar Firdaus Sidqi Shahril Azli.

 

The court order was confirmed by the lawyers for Khalid, Mohd Hanipa Maidin and Azhana Mohd Khairuddin today.

 

The assessment of damages was done following the Court of Appeal in December 2013 unanimously allowing Khalid's appeal against an earlier High Court ruling, but it ordered the damages to be assessed by the High Court registrar.

 

Khalid sued Hamidah ( right ) for her blog posting in January 2010, in which the Perak Wanita Umno chief depicted the Shah Alam MP wearing the robe of a Christian priest.

“The court finds the article and picture to be defamatory.

“The High Court’s judgment was wrong and is therefore set aside,” Justice Mohamad Ariff Md Yusof, who headed the three-member Court of Appeal bench then, ruled.

Justice Mohamad Ariff ordered Hamidah to pay RM50,000 in costs and directed the court's senior assistant registrar to assess the damages.

The High Court in Shah Alam had, in July 2013, dismissed Khalid's suit on grounds that the Shah Alam MP had failed to show the original posting that he claimed had been made by Hamidah.