Screenshots

UPDATED VERSION. It's an ambush that even Rocky's lawyers weren't informed.

According to journalists who covered the Jalan Duta High Court circuit today, NSTP & Four Others failed to get leave from the Kuala Lumpur High Court to initiate committal proceedings against blogger Ahirudin Attan (Rocky).

There was, however, an alert in The Star, September 21, of an application for such committal proceedings (read: contempt of court) by the plaintiffs who sued Rocky, alongside this blogger, for defamation.

Apart from this, I have no further details to report at the moment.

UPDATES: The applicants -- NSTP and Four Others (Kalimullah Masheerul Hassan, Syed Faisal Albar, Hishamuddin Aun and Brendan Pereira) had claimed in their application that Rocky had breached an undertaking not to publish any more articles or comments on the libel suit between them.

However, the Judge said the application lacked sufficient information.

In dismissing the ex-parte application yesterday, Justice Mohd Hishamudin Mohd Yunus said the applicants had failed to explain clearly how the six contentious articles published in the weblog Rocky’s Bru from May 18 through July 8 were “regarding the dispute before the High Court”.

'Not by way of submission by counsel from the bar'

According to The Star, the judge said the applicants also failed to explain the manner in which these articles could be regarded as sub judice or how they might prejudice the fair trial of the action.

Justice Hishamudin ruled that the details and comparisons that the applicants intended to rely on in such an application must be set out in the (applicants') supporting statement itself and not separately by way of submission by counsel from the bar.

According to Oriental Daily News, the Judge also ruled that by hyperlinking to the WALK WITH US blog, Rocky cannot be held liable over the contents of the hyperlinked weblog as he is neither its author nor publisher. Furthermore, the hyperlink is considered a 'passive referencing' alongside 85 other hyperlinks to other blogs appearing on Rocky's Bru.

SOURCE: theSun, Nov 22, 2007, Page 10)

Media reports:
- Oriental Daily News: 《新海峽時報》起訴部落客缺足夠理由　駁回藐視法庭申請
- The Star: Application to start committal proceedings rejected
- The NST: Court says 'no' to committal proceedings
- theSun: NSTP, four others fail to cite blogger for contempt