According to Malaysiakini, at case management this morning, the Kuala Lumpur High Court fixed the trial dates to run from March 30 to April 1, 2026.
In March last year, it was reported that the woman, Zainab Salleh, had been named in a declassified report on the troubled littoral combat ship (LCS) project as wife to a then minister.
Zainab, who was said to be the spouse of former special functions minister Dr Abdul Latiff Ahmad, however denied being married to him. She claimed she had no personal relationship with Latiff.
She also said that Rafizi had defamed her by referring to her as Latiff’s second wife.
She alleged that the declassified report, titled Review of the LCS Programme, was prepared for Boustead Heavy Industries Corporation’s internal use, and not for public viewing.
Zainab claimed Rafizi had posted several statements on his social media accounts between Aug 22 and Nov 1 last year alleging that she was Latiff’s second wife.
She demanded that he tender an apology, failing which she would sue him for defamation.
In 2022, Latiff, Bersatu’s former Mersing MP, denied that Zainab was his second wife. He also filed a police report against Rafizi.
Rafizi then challenged Latiff to file a lawsuit against him if he thought he had been defamed.
Based on the statement of claim sighted by FMT, Zainab is seeking a court order to compel Rafizi to issue a public apology in several newspapers and social media platforms.
She is also seeking several other reliefs, including a permanent injunction to prevent him from further defaming her, as well as unspecified general, aggravated and exemplary damages.
The respondent, in his statement of defence filed in February, said he was raising the defence of justification based on Section 8 of the Defamation Act 1957.
He also raised the defences of qualified privilege and fair comment, adding that the impugned statements were matters of public interest as the LCS project involved national security.
He also said that the statements were made without malicious intent.