PUTRAJAYA: Sarawak Report editor Clare Rewcastle-Brown and two others were ordered to pay RM300,000 for making defamatory statements against the Sultanah of Terengganu, Sultanah Nur Zahirah.
The Court of Appeal made the ruling today citing that Rewcastle-Brown had defamed Sultanah Nur Zahirah in her book, "The Sarawak Report – The Inside Story of the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) Exposé."
The three-member bench appellate court led by Datuk Hadhariah Syed Ismail also ruled that the lower court erred in dismissing the lawsuit last year.
The two other judges on the panel were Mohamed Zaini Mazlan and Datuk Azhahari Kamal Ramli.
Azhahari, when reading the unanimous judgement said the court had considered several factors in providing compensation including a lack of remorse by Rewcastle-Brown.
"Rewcastle-Brown acknowledged that she had made an error in the book but declined to mention those errors during interviews with news portal Free Malaysia Today and Sarawak Report on Sept 18 and 27, 2018, respectively.
"The defendant (Rewcastle-Brown) also did not apologise to the plaintiff (Sultanah Nur Zahirah) at any time before the legal action was taken.
"In conclusion, the High Court clearly erred in dismissing the plaintiff's lawsuit," he said, before granting Sultanah Nur Zahirah's appeal.
The court said the image of Sultanah Nur Zahirah was badly tainted when she was linked with the fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho or Jho Low in the book.
"The editor also failed to show that the impugned statement was true."
The court also awarded costs of RM120,000 to be paid by the respondents.
On Oct 31, 2022, High Court judicial commissioner Dr John Lee Kien How @ Mohd Johan Lee dismissed Sultanah Nur Zahirah's RM100 million lawsuit against the editor.
Apart from Rewcastle-Brown, the Sultanah also named book publisher Gerakbudaya Enterprise and printer Vinlin Press Sdn Bhd as the other defendants.
Johan, in his ruling, said there were no negative implications from the two imputations in the case despite the defendant's factual error, in which she acknowledged accidentally referring to the plaintiff when the sultan's sister was intended.
Sultanah Nur Zahirah claimed RM100 million in damages from each of the defendants and wanted the second defendant, the publisher, to withdraw the books containing the defamatory statements as well as to stop the third defendant, the printing company, from printing more copies of the book.
In their statement of defence, the three defendants denied that they had accused Sultanah Nur Zahirah of being involved in corrupt practices.
Rewcastle-Brown contended that Sarawak Report did not suggest that the Sultanah was involved in a conspiracy that involved Low or that she was involved in the government administration associated with 1MDB matters.