KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 19 — The publisher of local daily Utusan Malaysia was ordered to pay RM200,000 with interest to former opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim for defaming him in 2012, according to a news report.

Anwar’s lawyer, N. Surendran, was quoted as saying by news portal Malaysiakini as saying that the ruling on damages has vindicated the PKR leader in his suit against Utusan Melayu (M) Sdn Bhd.

“This vindication proves that Datuk Seri Anwar has been slandered by Utusan Malaysia, which is known by all to be owned by Umno,” Surendran reportedly said.

“They still repeat such cases and we hope this will be a clear lesson for them. This is not the way of running a responsible newspaper,” he added after the decision was made by Kuala Lumpur High Court judge Datuk Hue Siew Kheng.

In January 2012, Anwar had filed a RM50 million defamation suit against Utusan and its editor-in-chief Datuk Abdul Aziz Ishak for publishing two articles on his comments to British broadcaster BBC during an interview on homosexuality laws.

Anwar had in January 2013 won the defamation suit, with then Kuala Lumpur High Court judge Datuk V.T. Singham ordering for RM45,000 in costs to be paid to Anwar, while the damages were to be assessed.

The Court of Appeal had last January upheld Anwar’s court victory, while both the High Court and the Court of Appeal had previously rejected Utusan Melayu’s bid to use Anwar’s second sodomy conviction to argue for a lower amount of damages to be paid to him.

On February 10 this year, Anwar was sentenced to five years’ jail after the country’s apex court upheld an earlier Court of Appeal ruling that reversed his acquittal of sodomising former aide Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan.