KUALA LUMPUR: Sarawak Report editor Clare Rewcastle-Brown has launched a fundraising campaign to cover the damages mandated by the Court of Appeal to Terengganu's Sultanah Nur Zahirah.
Despite planning to appeal, Rewcastle-Brown expressed on gofundme.com that the RM300,000 in damages and RM120,000 for costs, while lesser than the initial sum demanded, is a significant burden.
"This may amount to a thousand times less than the astonishing RM300 million that the wealthy royal was demanding for a case of harmless mistaken identity, yet it is a ruinous sum for the three defendants targeted in this case," she wrote on gofundme.com.
She further said Sarawak Report is preparing its appeal to the Federal Court "against this shocking reversal of a clear acquittal."
"We strongly maintain there was no insult and no libel uttered against the litigant in this book. However, for now these damages must be paid," she added.
Rewcastle-Brown, when contacted by FMT, however, said in the event that the apex court ruled in their favour, the funds collected via the fundraiser would be donated to charity.
"We will put it to our charity to help the indigenous folk engage in reforestation projects in East Malaysia," she was quoted as saying.
On Dec 12, 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.
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.
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.
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.