Malaysian court awards Zakir Naik, wanted in India for instigating Muslim youth in India and abroad to commit terrorist acts, RM 320,000 in damages for defamation -Naik has pledged award to the Muslims of Palestine

 by Ganesh Sahathevan 

                           Malaysia's Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, and Zakir Naik

The High Court of Malaysia was awarded , Zakir Naik, wanted in India for  instigating Muslim youth in India  and terrorists in India and abroad to commit terrorist acts, RM 320,000 in damages for defamation -Naik has pledged award to the Muslims of . Palestine.

An imputation is defamatory, according to the most commonly applied test, if the words tend to lower the plaintiff in the estimation of right-thinking members of society generally: Sim v Stretch [1936] 2 All ER 1237

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Will fugitive preacher Zakir Naik be extradited to India? MEA says 'have taken up the matter with Oman'

This comes after Naik came to Oman as a ‘state guest’ to deliver his speech on "Holy Quran is a Global Necessity" in the country.

Business Today Desk

• Updated Mar 24, 2023, 7:38 PM IST

Bagchi said that he will have to confirm with the ratified list if India has an extradition treaty with Oman or not.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Friday said that all necessary actions will be taken to bring back radical Islamic preacher Zakir Naik to India. 

In a weekly press conference, MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said, "Zakir Naik is an accused in numerous cases in India. He is a fugitive from justice. We have taken up the matter with the government of Oman and its authorities."

This comes after Naik came to Oman as a ‘state guest’ to deliver his speech on "Holy Quran is a Global Necessity" in the country.
Naik, an Indian Islamic preacher, has been residing in Malaysia since 2017. The Oman government recently invited Naik to deliver two religious lectures in the capital city Muscat on March 23 and March 25 during Ramzan.

On Naik’s extradition, Bagchi said that he will have to confirm with the ratified list if India has an extradition treaty with Oman or not.

"As regards the extradition part, I will check on this. I think the list of countries we have an extradition treaty with is already in the public domain and Oman is not on the list. However, I do need to reconfirm," he said.

Naik, 57, fled India in 2016 after his organisation Islamic Research Foundation (IRF) was banned, and a first information report was lodged under his name. He is accused of instigating Muslim youth and terrorists in India and abroad to commit terrorist acts.

In 2019, he was also banned from delivering public speeches in Malaysia. Besides India, his Peace TV network is also banned in Bangladesh, Canada, Sri Lanka, and the UK.

The Government of India had banned his channel Peace TV for peddling hate propaganda.