KUALA LUMPUR —The Shah Alam High Court today ordered the Malaysian International Humanitarian Organisation (MHO) and two other individuals to remove allegedly slanderous statements linking former deputy minister Datuk Dr Mashitah Ibrahim to human trafficking in Myanmar.
Lawyer Datuk Akberdin Abdul Kadir, representing Mashitah, 60, said Judicial Commissioner Jamhirah Ali made the order after allowing an application for an interim injunction filed by the former Baling MP in an online proceeding today.
“Therefore, the three defendants have to remove the statements immediately and not repeat those words until an inter-parte decision (both parties) is made by the court,” said the lawyer.
He said the court set November 18 for further case management.
Mashitah, who was formerly deputy minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, filed the suit on September 9.
The Umno politician named MHO chairman Datuk Hishamuddin Hashim, 45, MHO committee member Azirul Syafiq Sazali, 29, and the organisation as the first to third defendants.
In her statement of claim, she alleged that Hishamuddin, via his Facebook account, uploaded video clips of a media statement with the caption ‘Sidang Media Berkaitan Aduan Penglibatan Ahli Politik Malaysia Di Dalam Sindiket Pemerdagangan Manusia Berpusat Di Myanmar,’ made by the three defendants on a Facebook account of ‘Hishamuddin Hashim’ on August 28, which contained defamatory statements against the plaintiff.
She further claimed that on the same day, Azirul Syafiq and MHO posted a written media statement, prepared by Hishamuddin, on MHO’s Facebook account and Azirul Syafiq’s TikTok account. This statement also contained defamatory remarks.
Mashitah said the following day (August 29), Hishamuddin uploaded an edited video clip with the caption ‘Sidang Media berkenaan penglibatan bekas Timbalan Menteri dengan syarikat Dongmei Group yang merupakan antara sindiket pemerdagangan manusia & scam paling besar di Myawaddy Myanmar”.
She claimed that pictures of her, with the face blurred, were shown in the video.
Mashitah also claimed that Hishamuddin and MHO uploaded slanderous remarks in a post on Facebook belonging to the two defendants on September 3.
The plaintiff claimed that the defamatory statements implied that she and her husband, Datuk Abdul Shakor Abu Bakar, were directly involved with Dongmei Group, a company allegedly engaged in human trafficking, gambling, and drug-related criminal activities both in Myanmar and internationally.
She also claimed that the defamatory statements had adversely affected her reputation and status as a public figure, senior politician, and businesswoman. — September 17, 2024
