PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal has dismissed the appeal by Mabel Sheela Mutthiah, former special officer to ex-Attorney General Tan Sri Mohamed Apandi Ali, in her defamation lawsuit against Sarawak Report editor Clare Rewcastle-Brown.
The case involved three articles, including one titled “How AG’s Office Connived to Prevent a Second Post-mortem on Kevin Morais – Exclusive Expose.”
A three-judge panel, led by Justice Datuk Azizah Nawawi, unanimously ruled that Mabel failed to comply with legal requirements by not providing a Malay translation of the allegedly defamatory article.
Justice Azizah stated, “In this case, there was no Bahasa Melayu translation of the impugned defamatory article, and that was clearly a non-compliance with Order 92. We find there is no appealable error by the High Court. The appeal is therefore dismissed with costs of RM10,000.”
The High Court had earlier rejected Mabel’s suit on May 2, 2024, citing the same reason and ordering her to pay RM15,000 in costs.
Judge Datuk Raja Ahmad Mohzanuddin Shah emphasized the legal necessity of Malay-language pleadings under Article 152 of the Federal Constitution and the National Language Act 1963/67.
Mabel had sued Rewcastle-Brown in 2019 over articles connecting her to alleged text messages sent to the family of Kevin Morais, a murder victim in 2015.
She sought damages and the removal of the articles from Sarawak Report’s website. - Bernama
