Wednesday October 24, 2012

Witness: Editor-in-chief approved article on Anwar

KUALA LUMPUR: It was Utusan Melayu (M) Berhad editor-in-chief Datuk Abdul Aziz Ishak who gave the approval to publish a Jan 17 article which touched on Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s comment regarding homosexuality, the High Court was told.

Senior News Editor II Zulkiflee Bakar, 44, said he only attended the evening meeting where the article was discussed by editors from each desk.

To another question by Anwar’s counsel N. Surendran, he answered: “I knew that the plaintiff was dissatisfied with the published article.

“However, I disagree that the article was published to damage Anwar’s reputation in politics.”

He also disagreed with Surendran that he needed to obtain Anwar’s reaction comment before the article was published.

Responding to Utusan Melayu and Abdul Aziz’s lawyer Datuk Firoz Hussein Ahmad Jamaluddin, Zulkiflee said the PKR office had put up a notice to disallow Utusan Malaysia from attending any of its press conferences.

Zulkiflee was giving evidence in a civil suit filed by Anwar against Utusan Melayu and Abdul Aziz.

In the suit, Anwar is claiming RM50mil in damages and seeking an injunction to restrain the defendants from further publishing similar words in the print media or Internet.

High Court judge Justice V. T. Singham set Dec 27 for a decision.