The Court of Appeal today dismissed an appeal by Umno-owned daily Utusan Malaysia against former opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim‎ for defamation following an article it published over an interview carried by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).

Utusan wanted to include Anwar's conviction for sodomy II as a ground of appeal over the quantum it had to pay to the PKR de-facto leader, which was to be assessed.

The three-member panel ruled that it is bound by a decided case of S Nallakaruppan vs Anwar Ibrahim .

The decision by the panel led by ‎Justice Umi Kalthum Abd Majid was unanimous.

The other two judges are Justices ‎Abdul Rahman Sebli and Zamani A Rahim.

Utusan was also ordered to pay costs of RM5,000 to Anwar.

It was previously reported that Utusan wanted to cite Anwar's conviction to possibly reduce the quantum of damages but this was dismissed by Kuala Lumpur High Court judge Justice Hue Siew Kheng, and hence the appeal.

Anwar was represented by counsels N Surendran and Shahid Adli Kamaruddin.

Did not practise responsible journalism

On Jan 21, 2013 then High Court judge VT Singham ( photo ) ruled that the Umno-owned newspaper had " distorted " Anwar's words to suggest he backed the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) movement.

The judge found that Utusan did not practise responsible journalism and it missed the opportunity to correct itself after Anwar sent a legal notice.

"The articles have a purpose of its own... to give rise to a defamatory imputation that Anwar is condoning LGBT activities to be legalised which is not true under the circumstances," he had said.

Then Utusan was told to pay RM45,000 in costs to Anwar at the High Court but damages to be assessed later.

Utusan had published two articles in Jan 2012, to highlight the politician's stance in LGBT issue following the BBC interview.

After Anwar won the suit, Utusan then applied to amend its defence in the assessment of damages to be awarded to the former deputy premier by including his conviction of sodomy at the Court of Appeal.

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