KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 18 — The High Court here today ordered rapper Caprice to archive 31 allegedly defamatory posts against entrepreneur Muhammad Asyraf Khalid that were uploaded to his Instagram.
Lawyer Abdul Hakeem Aiman, who represented Muhammad Asyraf, said Judge Datuk Anand Ponnudurai made the decision after allowing an application for an ex-parte ad-interim injunction in a suit filed by the stepson of Biduanita Negara, Datuk Seri Siti Nurhaliza Tarudin against Caprice, whose real name is Ariz Ramli, 39.
“All publications issued by the defendant (Caprice) relating to or referring to the plaintiff (Asyraf) must be archived starting today until the disposal of the inter-parte injunction application which will be heard on Sept 2,” the lawyer told the media after the ex-parte injunction hearing proceedings which took place in chambers.
Meanwhile, Abdul Hakeem said that so far the defendant has not filed a statement of defence to respond to the suit.
Muhammad Asyraf, 33, filed the suit on August 4, claiming that Caprice had published 31 allegedly defamatory posts against the plaintiff on his Instagram from July 30 to August 2.
The plaintiff claimed that the defamatory posts, among other things, meant that the plaintiff was a disgrace for inviting Murad Zaidi, who was his personal trainer, on an Audio Siar (Podcast), simply to give the man a chance to defend himself via social media, while ignoring the injuries suffered by the victim due to the man’s actions.
“I invited Murad so that he could share his experience running a gym and the challenges he faced, as well as provide an explanation for Murad’s statement via Instagram which denied all the allegations against him and his family,” said Muhammad Asyraf in the suit.
Muhammad Asyraf said the posting also meant that the plaintiff was the son of Datuk Seri Khalid Mohammad Jiwa or Dato K who is the husband of Siti Nurhaliza and in that capacity the plaintiff had abused money, power, influence and family ties to supposedly trap the defendant.
According to him, although he had decided not to broadcast the full episode of Murad Zaidi as Caprice wanted, Caprice still continued to attack him.
He said Caprice’s reckless and irresponsible actions had caused the plaintiff to be insulted and hated by the public in addition to dragging Muhammad Asyraf’s father into the dispute and giving an untrue and shameful image.
In this regard, he sought an injunction to prevent Caprice, its employees, representatives or agents from publishing, distributing, spreading or repeating defamatory postings whether oral or written against him on any social media platform and to delete the postings on any social media platform within 24 hours from the date of judgment.
The plaintiff also requested the defendant to make a public apology via video and publish it on all of the defendant’s social media accounts, in addition to claiming general damages, aggravated damages, costs and other relief deemed appropriate by the court. — Bernama
