KUALA LUMPUR: Former Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Dr Mashitah Ibrahim has filed a defamation suit against a non-governmental organisation over allegations linking her to a human trafficking syndicate in Myanmar.
The former Baling member of parliament filed the suit at the High Court here via Messrs Akberdin & Co by naming Datuk Hishamuddin Hashim, Azirul Syafiq Sazali, and the Malaysia International Humanitarian Organisation (MHO) as the defendants.
Hishamuddin and Azirul Syafiq are the chairman cum secretary-general, and a committee member of MHO, respectively.
Mashitah in her statement of claim alleged Hishamuddin via his Facebook account had uploaded several videos contained defamatory statements against her between Aug 28 and 29.
The plaintiff claimed the defendants, during a press statement shown in the video, displayed several pictures in which they blurred her face.
"However, it is clear that these pictures are screenshots of Facebook posts belonging to the plaintiff under the account named 'Dato Mashitah Ibrahim'.
"Although the plaintiff's face was blurred in the pictures, the plaintiff asserts that the general public, particularly her Facebook friends, could still recognise that the 'politician' mentioned by the defendants in the video clip dated Aug 28 was her.
"The defendants also had made defamatory statements against the plaintiff in their media statement on Aug 26 and in a Facebook post on Sept 3," claimed the plaintiff.
The plaintiff claimed that the impugned statements were malicious, made with ill intent, and constituted false accusations against her.
Mashitah claimed that the false accusations against her are capable of implying that the plaintiff and her husband are allegedly the masterminds of a human trafficking syndicate in Myanmar, with connections to a criminal organisation known as 14K.
She also claimed that the impugned statements imply that the plaintiff and her husband are alleged to have been involved in criminal activities related to terrorism and transnational crime through the company.
The plaintiff is seeking an unequivocal apology from the defendants and for them to take down the alleged defamatory posts seven days after the judgment.
She also seeks general, compensatory, aggravated, and exemplary damages from the defendants.
On Aug 29, Mashitah lodged a police report over allegations of her involvement in human trafficking in Myanmar.
The allegations were made in an MHO report to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission by Hishamuddin, who claimed that the syndicate allegedly deceived victims online with attractive job offers, but then forced them to work as online gambling scammers.
MHO also handed several documents to the federal police to assist in their investigation.
However, on September 7, Inspector General of Police Tan Sri Razarudin Husain cleared Mashitah of any involvement in the case, as the police investigation found that she had no connection with human trafficking syndicates.