Umno’s Lokman says he’s not an anti-vaxxer in suit by KJ
KUALA LUMPUR: Former Umno Supreme Council member Lokman Noor Adam said he is not an “anti-vaxxer”, but was merely voicing his concern on several issues linked to vaccines in his social media postings. In his defence statement to Khairy Jamaluddin’s lawsuit, Lokman said his statements in several Facebook videos related…
KUALA LUMPUR: Former Umno Supreme Council member Lokman Noor Adam said he is not an “anti-vaxxer”, but was merely voicing his concern on several issues linked to vaccines in his social media postings.
In his defence statement to Khairy Jamaluddin’s lawsuit, Lokman said his statements in several Facebook videos related to vaccines were not defamatory.
“The defendant (Lokman) denies that the videos in question have any element of malice. The defendant was voicing out on several issues, including whether ‘expired’ vaccines were administered to the public, the plaintiff’s (Khairy) vaccination status as well as calling on the plaintiff to review his orders so it would not trouble those who refused vaccination,” Lokman added.
Khairy filed a suit against Lokman in January over his social media posts linked to the Covid-19 vaccination programme.
He said he had filed the suit in his personal capacity against Lokman for defaming him through two videos, by uploading a photograph in his Facebook page on Jan 6 and making two “live” statements via Facebook and YouTube on Jan 10.
He is seeking an unspecified amount in damages and wants the defendant to remove the alleged defamatory postings
Khairy also wants Lokman to publish a retraction and a public apology on his YouTube channel and other social media accounts identified by him.
He claims Lokman had committed defamation through the online postings which contained several allegations linked to the government’s Covid-19 vaccination efforts in Malaysia.
Among these are that Khairy acted recklessly and irresponsibly in the procurement of Covid-19 vaccines for the vaccination programme, as well as claims linked to his own Covid-19 vaccination status.
He said the online postings by Lokman were against public interest as they undermined Putrajaya’s efforts to combat the Covid-19 pandemic.
Meanwhile, Lokman said he had not received a letter of demand from Khairy prior to the minister filing the lawsuit.
“The plaintiff never demanded that the defendant remove the videos prior to the filing of this suit,” he added.
Khairy had last month secured an interim injunction against Lokman, seeking the removal of the videos in question. — Free Malaysia Today