Perak PAS commissioner Razman Zakaria has been given until Friday by the Ipoh Sessions Court to pay RM8,500 in costs to former menteri besar Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin.

The court awarded the costs in November last year after dismissing Razman's counter-claim and setting aside his striking-out application on Nizar's defamation suit filed against him.

The suit was for claiming that the "former Perak MB is supporting DAP's secular country concept and that he should join the DAP”.

Nizar (photo), who is now with Amanah, initially filed the RM3 million suit for defamation in the High Court in Ipoh in 2015. However, the case was transferred to the Sessions Court.

Sessions judge D Sunita Kaur Jessy made the order yesterday following Razman's failure to pay the RM8,000 costs, after his two applications were dismissed.

She also awarded an additional RM500 costs to Nizar after Razman asked for a postponement of the hearing yesterday and today, following the third-party application he filed to include Malay daily Sinar Harian as a party to the suit.

Nizar's lawyer Fitri Asmuni told Malaysiakini that he requested the costs to be paid immediately, since the decision was made five months ago.

“We also sought costs following the postponement of the trial, which was supposed to start yesterday, since Nizar was present,” Fitri said.

The former MB filed the suit against Razman following a June 2, 2015, Sinar Harian report, in which he claimed the words defamed him as a Malay leader who had gone against the race, that he was not sensitive to the Malay needs, a traitor to Islam and out to spread secular thinking in the country and within PAS.

The statement by Razman also meant that Nizar was not committed to PAS' struggle, did not respect the ruler's institution, had tarnished the image of PAS and was a silent enemy within the party.

He claimed that his political enemies had used what Razman had said against him, and the words uttered had subjected him to ridicule and reduced his dignity and standing in public.

Razman was represented by lawyers Mohd Zamri Ibrahim and Ahmad Azhar.