The High Court has granted Inspector-General of Police Razarudin Husain leave to commence committal proceedings for a second time against blogger Wan Azri Wan Deris over his allegedly “non-solemn” apology to him published on social media.
Judicial commissioner Gan Techiong said Razarudin had established a prima facie case against Wan Azri after the court today viewed Wan Azri’s statement of regret published on May 1.
He ordered the blogger, also known as Papagomo, to file an affidavit by May 23 to persuade the court why he should not be cited for contempt.
Razarudin was allowed to file a reply to Wan Azri’s affidavit by June 6.
Gan fixed June 30 to hear the application and ordered Wan Azri to be present in court.
Earlier, he allowed Wan Azri’s lawyer, Rafique Rashid Ali, to address him although the matter was scheduled to be heard ex parte. Counsel S Raam Kumar, representing Razarudin, did not object.
Rafique said his client had published an apology on four social media platforms and adhered to other orders as directed by the court on April 30.
However, Raam Kumar said the apology was insincere as Wan Azri had posted a five-minute video on May 1 saying that his statement of regret was directed only to the court, and not to Razarudin.
He supplied a pen drive to the court containing footage of the video to prove that Wan Azri was only making a conditional apology.
“He did not direct the apology to my client but to the court to evade going to prison,” he said.
Further, the lawyer said, the apology was posted on four social media platforms on April 30 with the song “Maafkan Kami”, by the late P Ramlee, playing in the background.
“There must be solemnity in the apology, but here it is a joke,” he said.
Razarudin, in his application filed on Monday, wants Wan Azri to be fined and sent to prison.
On April 30, Wan Azri, decided to purge his contempt just before the start of proceedings before Gan over defamatory and demeaning remarks made earlier this year.
In a statement read in court, Wan Azri, a former police officer, expressed his unreserved and unconditional regret for referring to Razarudin in a demeaning manner in a social media posting on Jan 14.
He also apologised for publishing a doctored photo of Razarudin on the same media platform the following day.
He gave an undertaking to the court that he would post his statement of apology on YouTube, Telegram, X, and TikTok on April 30, which would remain on the social media platforms for at least seven days.
The judge also directed Wan Azri to remove the postings made on Jan 14 and 15, which were the subject matter of the contempt of court proceedings.
On Dec 26 last year, Razarudin filed a RM3 million lawsuit against Wan Azri alleging defamation.
He filed the first application for contempt on Jan 24 after the blogger failed to comply with an injunction order issued on Jan 10.
The injunction prohibits Wan Azri or his agents from publishing or disseminating defamatory statements against Razarudin, both in his official and personal capacities, on any social media platform until the defamation suit is resolved.
Wan Azri was also ordered to retract, remove, and delete video postings on his YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Telegram, and X accounts dated Dec 14, 15, 20 and 22 last year, which contained the alleged defamatory statements against Razarudin.
