The Court of Appeal has dismissed the appeal by preacher Zamihan Mat Zin against a High Court decision that found him to be an “unreliable witness” and had ordered him to pay RM50,000 in damages for defaming local non-governmental organisation Syria Care.
The bench, led by Justice Rohana Yusof along with Court of Appeal judges Justice Vernon Ong and Justice Harminder Singh Dhaliwall, in its unanimous decision yesterday also ordered Zamihan to pay RM10,000 in costs.
This follows a report published by Star Online quoting Zamihan in a 2014 article titled “Senseless violence jihad puts Malaysia as hub, says Home Ministry officer”, which linked the NGO to syiah groups in Malaysia that must be monitored by the government.
The defamatory article was published on June 27, 2014, and has been withdrawn by the news portal...