KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 28 — The High Court today granted blogger Amizudin Ahmat’s application for a stay of execution of his three-month jail sentence imposed by the court for contempt of court after he continued to publish articles on Information, Communications and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Rais Yatim.
Justice Datin Zabariah Mohd Yusof made the ruling after Rais’ lawyer Sarah Abishegam informed the court that the respondent had not objected to Amizudin’s application to stay the sentence pending disposal of his appeal at the Court of Appeal over the jail sentence.
On August 10, Justice Zabariah had sentenced Amizudin to three months’ jail after finding him guilty of contempt of court by further publishing 11 articles that defamed Rais.
She ruled that Amizudin had breached a court order prohibiting him from publishing such articles on Rais in his blog.
The 11 articles were published after the court, on July 19 last year, had ruled in Rais’ favour over a suit he had filed against Azimudin, who was also ordered to pay RM300,000 in damages and RM100,000 in costs to the minister.
Rais filed the suit on January 31, 2011, against Amizudin, 42, who is a Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) Youth Committee member, for defamation over an article posted on the latter’s blog, sharpshooterblogger.blogspot.com, on or around December 28, 2010. — Bernama