Judicial commissioner Suzana Muhamad said the defendants, Mohammed WA Abuali and the Palestinian embassy, succeeded in proving that they are protected under the Diplomatic Privileges (Vienna Convention) Act 1966 and the Consular Relations (Vienna Convention) Act 1999.
She said there was no dispute that Mohammed is the son of the Palestinian ambassador and that he, too, enjoys diplomatic immunity accorded under the law.
“This court finds that there is no merit in the plaintiff’s appeal to warrant appellate intervention,” she said in a 19-page judgment posted on the judiciary’s website yesterday.
“It is clear that defendant 1 (Mohammed) is a person protected as he is the son of the Palestinian ambassador to Malaysia, who is the head of that country’s mission here.
“Thus, the son enjoys diplomatic immunity accorded under the law,” she said, adding there was also no evidence that Mohammed had waived his immunity.
For that reason, she said, the claim by plaintiff Donisyah Putra Amry was unsustainable and correctly struck out.
Donisyah was ordered to pay RM3,000 in costs of the appeal to the defendants.
Suzana said the plaintiff was not left without remedy as he has the right to lodge a claim with the company insuring the embassy’s vehicle.
The embassy is the registered owner of the car and has insurance coverage from General Insurance Malaysia Sdn Bhd.
Police had previously issued Mohammed with a summons, for which he paid a RM300 fine.
Suzana’s judgment also noted that Donisyah had been compensated personally by the defendants, a fact she said was undisputed.
Despite this, Donisyah filed a claim for general and special damages in the sessions court against Mohammed and the embassy for injuries suffered from the accident.
He was riding a motorcycle and Mohammed was driving the embassy’s car when the accident took place.
However, the defendants obtained a declaration from the sessions court that it did not have jurisdiction over them as they were shielded with diplomatic immunity under the two international conventions.
That decision also saw the lower court strike out Donisyah’s writ and statement of claim, filed on April 3 last year.