Rights group hails court rule

Rights group hails court rule

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): A Malaysian rights group has hailed a High
Court decision to strike out a million dollar defamation law suit
against a United Nations special rapporteur, a report said on
Sunday.

Musa Hitam, Human Rights Committee chairman of Malaysia was
quoted by the New Sunday Times as saying the ruling would help
maintain the image of the country's judiciary.

"This ruling will help improve the image of Malaysian
judiciary," he said.

On Saturday, Judge R.K. Nathan struck out a 60 million ringgit
(US$15.8 million) lawsuit against Param Cumaraswamy, adding that
a World Court decision on his immunity was binding.

Nathan was quoted by The Star newspaper as saying an advisory
opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) dated on
April 29, 1999 was binding.

MBf Capital Bhd. and MBf Northern Securities Sdn. Bhd. had
claimed damages of 15 million ringgit each for slander and
another 15 million ringgit each for libel over a Nov. 15, 1995
article in the International Commercial Litigation magazine.