KUALA LUMPUR: The legal dispute between Group of 25 Eminent Malays (G25) spokesman Datuk Noor Farida Ariffin and businessman Azmi Arshad over an article in which the latter had claimed the former of insulting Islam, has finally been resolved today.
After a 90-minute private discussion at the mediation centre here, both parties have finally agreed to settle the matter by withdrawing their suits with no liberty to file afresh.
However, the terms of settlement were not disclosed.
The settlement was recorded before the director of the KL mediation centre Datuk Che Wan Zaidi Che Ibrahim with no order as to cost.
Lawyer Azad Bashir who represented Azmi said, both parties had the private discussion before Che Zaidi, in the presence of their respective solicitors.
“It was the third meeting at the mediation centre and the private discussion took about an hour and a half.
“The terms of settlement recorded in the discussion are private and confidential,” he said.
The matter was then recorded at the High Court before judicial commissioner Datuk Roslan Abu Bakar in which both suits were struck out after lawyers from both parties informed the court that their clients have agreed to withdraw their respective suits.
Noor Faridah was represented by lawyer D. Maya Gayathri.
On March 7, last year, Noor Farida, 70, who was Malaysia’s ambassador to the Netherlands, had sued Azmi, 53, for posting a link of an article titled ‘Low Yat is Only a Gentle Reminder’ on his Facebook page and two other Facebook pages and on the ‘Portal Islam & Melayu’ website on July 13, 2015.
She claimed that the alleged defamatory article implied that she was prejudiced against Islam, not a good Muslim, and of low morality.
Among others, she claimed that the article had gravely damaged her personal and business reputation, and she had suffered considerable distress, hurt and embarrassment.
Azmi though was relying on the defence of fair comment, qualified privilege and justification for the alleged defamatory words.
On June 24, last year, Azmi filed a suit against Noor Farida over allegations that he had published defamatory words on two Facebook pages which could be easily accessed by public.
Azmi claimed that the defamatory words implied that he had weak Islamic understanding and a cyber bully.