Muhyiddin gets interim injunction against Puad

KUALA LUMPUR: Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin has obtained an interim injunction to restrain Umno supreme council member Datuk Dr Mohd Puad Zarkashi from republishing allegedly defamatory statements over the quarantine order involving the Prime Minister on his (Mohd Puad) Facebook page.

Muhyiddin’s lawyer Rosli Dahlan said High Court judge Mohd Firuz Jaffril allowed the ex parte application by Muhyiddin yesterday.

“The High Court judge granted an interim injunction pending disposal of the inter partes hearing which was fixed on March 12,” he told Bernama.

Muhyiddin had applied for an injunction order to restrain Mohd Puad or his agent, representative or anyone from republishing, reposting and resharing the allegedly defamatory statements on Mohd Puad’s Facebook page.

Muhyiddin said the ex parte application was needed because if a notice was served to the defendant, there would be a risk that the defendant would sensationalise the application which would result in his readers sharing the post.

Meanwhile, Muhyiddin who filed the writ of summons and statement of claims in his personal capacity, claimed that on Feb 9 Mohd Puad had published a post on his Facebook page under the name of “Dr Puad Zarkashi” with the title “Kuarantin pun ada dua darjat?”.

Muhyiddin claimed that the statements implied that he and his entourage had refused to undergo quarantine for 10 days upon their return from their official trip to Jakarta, Indonesia.