Satees’ lawyer, Shamsher Singh Thind, said the suit was settled without any admission of liability by his client.

“There is also no order to costs,” he told FMT.

In open court today, judicial commissioner Johan Lee Abdullah thanked both parties for coming to a resolution without the trial proceeding further.

Naik filed the suit against Satees in 2019 over the assemblyman’s remarks contained in an FMT report, “DAP man blames LTTE crackdown on Zakir Naik’s presence”.

Satees was also sued over an article published by Malaysiakini in the same year, in which he said the preacher should be deported from Malaysia for suggesting that Malaysian Indians were more loyal to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi than to former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

In his suit, Naik claimed Satees’ statements had ridiculed him and depicted him as a threat to the country’s security.

Satees relied on the defence of fair comment and qualified privilege.

Scheduled for three days, the trial, which began yesterday with Naik taking the stand, was to have gone on until tomorrow.

The plaintiff had lined up two more witnesses, while Satees and a police officer were to testify in his defence.

Lawyers Akberdin Abdul Kader and Rafie Shafie appeared for Naik.

Counsel A Srimurugan, Gunamalar Joorindanjn and Tony Tian also represented Satees.