KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 31 — Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Tan Sri Razarudin Husain, who is currently suing blogger Wan Azri Wan Deris for defamation, has now filed committal proceedings against him.

Razarudin’s lawyer, S Raam Kumar, said that Wan Azri, popularly known as Papagomo, has continued to defame the IGP on social media despite a High Court injunction issued against him, according to a report published today in Free Malaysia Today.

Earlier this month, judicial commissioner Gan Techiong granted an interlocutory injunction in favour of Razarudin, ordering Wan Azri to remove several allegedly defamatory posts about the IGP from social media pending the outcome of the lawsuit.

“The ex-parte leave application to cite Wan Azri has been fixed before Gan on February 10,” Raam Kumar told FMT, adding that the application was filed last week.

Razarudin filed the defamation suit against Wan Azri on December 26 over statements made in videos posted on YouTube and TikTok, which were also shared across various other social media platforms.

In the suit, Razarudin claims he was described in the videos using derogatory terms and was falsely linked to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

The IGP is seeking general, special, aggravated, and exemplary damages, as well as an injunction to prevent Wan Azri from making or republishing such statements, either by himself or through individuals associated with him.

Razarudin has also demanded that Wan Azri apologise and withdraw the allegedly defamatory statements from all social media accounts, as well as from mass and online media where they have been published.

In response, Wan Azri, a former Umno Youth leader, has stated that he is relying on the defences of justification and fair comment to challenge the suit.

In his defence statement filed last week, Wan Azri argued that Razarudin, as a public officer responsible for national security and public order, must be open to public criticism.

“His reputation as a public servant is not protected under existing defamation laws or Article 10 of the Federal Constitution (which guarantees free speech),” Wan Azri said.

He also denied responsibility for publishing the defamatory statements on social media, claiming that he neither managed the accounts nor had control over them.

Wan Azri has asked for the suit to be dismissed with costs.