Harakah and Harakahdaily have been ordered to respond to an objection submitted by Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak on the use of 20 articles in their defence over his suit pertaining to 1MDB.

Lawyer Mohd Hafarizam Harun, representing Najib, said Harakah and Harakahdaily - as defendants in the suit - were required to submit their reply on Feb 23.

"The 20 articles submitted by the defendants were irrelevant," he told reporters after meeting High Court judge Hue Siew Kheng in chambers today.

The meeting was also attended by lawyer Muhammad Faiz Fadzil, representing Harakah and Harakahdaily .

Najib objected to the use of the 20 articles by the defendants in their defence on Dec 7 last year on grounds that they were irrelevant to the suit.

In the suit filed on March 18 last year, Najib named Harakah managing director Dr Rosli Yaakob and Harakahdaily editor-in-chief Taufek Yahya as the defendants.

The suit is pertaining to the publishing of an article written by Rosli on Feb 19 regarding 1MDB.

In his statement of claim, Najib said the article had imputed that he had misused the 1MDB funds.

He said the publishing of the article was meant to tarnish his reputation and had resulted in the people condemning him on social media and the mass media.

Najib also claimed that Taufek failed to practise responsible journalism by not verifying whether what he had written was truthful before publishing the article.

The PM further claimed that the defendants had purposely published the article in pursuit of their personal agenda which was to destroy the people's confidence in him.

He is seeking general damages, aggravated damages, exemplary damages and interest as well an injunction to stop the defendants or their assistants from further publishing such articles.

- Bernama