PUTRAJAYA: Sarawak Report editor Clare Rewcastle-Brown failed in her final bid to avoid paying RM300,000 for defaming the Sultanah of Terengganu, Sultanah Nur Zahirah.
This was after the Federal Court dismissed her leave (permission) application to dismiss the Court of Appeal's ruling, which found her and two others liable for defaming Sultanah Nur Zahirah in her book, The Sarawak Report – The Inside Story of the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) Exposé.
A three-member panel, led by Tan Sri Nallini Pathmanathan, unanimously ruled that the appellant, Rewcastle-Brown, failed to meet the threshold of novelty or public importance.
The top court said that in this case, a complex linguistic and grammatical analysis was conducted, contrary to the established and straightforward approach for determining whether the words were defamatory.
"The sense or meaning in which the words were understood by the plaintiff (Rewcastle-Brown) who is the respondent here, is not relevant. Accordingly, this is not a question of law of novelty or public importance that requires ventilation in this court.
"Rewcastle-Brown's book comprised an important basis for the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) expose. This excerpt comprises a part of that book. While the significance of the book cannot be underplayed, it does not and cannot provide immunity to the author where there is defamation of a third party.
"In that context, all parties are equal before the law and are subject to equal treatment by the courts," the court said.
The court said the respondent (Sultanah Nur Zahirah) was equally entitled to fair treatment under the law.
"The fact that she is a member of a royal family does not preclude her from bringing a claim and being treated as would any member of the public. The fact of her background should not be held against her, as all are equal in the eyes of the law," the court added.
Other members of the bench were Datuk Zabariah Mohd Yusof and Datuk Vazeer Alam Mydin Meera.
On Dec 12, last year, the Court of Appeal overturned the lower court decision, which had dismissed Sultanah Nur Zahirah's RM100 million lawsuit against the editor.
The Appellate Court said it had considered several factors in providing compensation including a lack of remorse by Rewcastle-Brown.
"Rewcastle-Brown acknowledged that she had made an error in the book but declined to mention those errors during interviews with news portal Free Malaysia Today and Sarawak Report on Sept 18 and 27, 2018, respectively.
"The defendant (Rewcastle-Brown) also did not apologise to the plaintiff (Sultanah Nur Zahirah) at any time before the legal action was taken. In conclusion, the High Court clearly erred in dismissing the plaintiff's lawsuit," the court said.
The court said the image of Sultanah Nur Zahirah was badly tainted when she was linked with the fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho or Jho Low in the book.
"The editor also failed to show that the impugned statement was true."
The court also awarded costs of RM120,000 to be paid by the respondents.
Apart from Rewcastle-Brown, the Sultanah also named book publisher Gerakbudaya Enterprise and printer Vinlin Press Sdn Bhd as the other defendants.
Sultanah Nur Zahirah claimed RM100 million in damages from each of the defendants and wanted the second defendant, the publisher, to withdraw the books containing the defamatory statements as well as to stop the third defendant, the printing company, from printing more copies of the book.
In their statement of defence, the three defendants denied that they had accused Sultanah Nur Zahirah of being involved in corrupt practices.
Rewcastle-Brown contended that the Sarawak Report did not suggest that Sultanah Nur Zahirah was involved in a conspiracy that involved Low or that she was involved in the government administration associated with 1MDB matters.