PUTRAJAYA (Oct 17): The Federal Court has denied an application by former federal territories minister Khalid Abdul Samad for leave to appeal a Court of Appeal decision which overturned a High Court decision ordering former Malaysia Islamic Strategic Research Institute (Iksim) chief executive officer Professor Datuk Mahamad Naser Disa to pay RM80,000 in damages to Khalid over defamatory remarks made by Naser.

Khalid filed the suit in 2017 and claimed Naser had made a statement at a seminar organised by the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais) at the Tengku Ampuan Jemaah mosque in Bukit Jelutong, Shah Alam at 9.50am on Sept 28, 2017 which was considered slanderous and defamatory.

These comments pertained to the federal lawmaker's commitment to the amendment to the Shariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act by PAS (Act 355), which would increase criminal jurisdiction of the Shariah Courts.

On Monday (Oct 17), the Federal Court bench led by Court of Appeal president Tan Sri Rohana Yusuf denied Khalid's application to appeal against the appellate court's decision in January to allow Naser's appeal and award him RM40,000 in costs, thereby quashing the High Court's ruling.

Rohana, in reading her short decision via Zoom on Monday, said that they had considered all submissions before the court and found that the application did not meet the requisite condition for appeal.

The application was dismissed unanimously with a cost of RM30,000, which Khalid has to pay.

The rest of the three-judge panel were judge Datuk Mohamad Zabidin Mohd Diah and judge Datuk Harmindar Singh Dhaliwal.

Counsel Faiz Fadzil appeared for Khalid while Naser's lawyer Hasnal Rezua Merican appeared before the bench.

It was previously reported that Naser failed to strike out the suit at the High Court on May 30, 2018 when the court was of the view that there were issues to be tried.

Khalid was formerly with PAS before becoming one of the founding members of Parti Amanah Negara, which is now part of Pakatan Harapan.

PAS president Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang had tabled the private members bill for amending Act 355 to increase the punishment imposed by the Shariah Courts. It was only tabled for first reading.