Mohamed Ali threatens to sue Junet Mohamed over 'defamatory' tweet

Nyali MP Mohamed Ali. [File, Standard]

There are high chances the Twitter spat between Nyali MP Mohamed Ali and his Suna East counterpart Junet Mohamed might end up in the courts.

This is after the Nyali lawmaker threatened to sue Junet for making defamatory remarks against him on Twitter, a microblogging application.

The move by the former journalist came days after Junet made a tweet suggesting he had a sexual relationship outside his marriage, although not directly.

In a letter drawn by Ali's lawyer Eric Kivuva to Junet, the Nyali MP wants Junet to publicly apologise to him and write an admission of liability for libel in a week's time.

"Your immediate publication of a suitable retraction, correction and apology, the same to be given a prominent coverage as the tweet complained of above," Eric Kivuva's letter reads in part.

"Your unconditional admission of liability for libel/ such admission to be received by us within seven (7) days from the date of receipt of this letter after which we shall delve into the issue of quantum payable to our client," he added.

Failure to do so, Ali's legal team says it will proceed to file an action for damages without consulting him again.

"We are duly authorised to receive any and all correspondences with respect to this matter. All future correspondences should be addressed to us,"

Ali's legal team also argue that the tweet made on Saturday, September 10 at 4:38 pm was made with the intention to soil his public image, having worked as a journalist who has won over ten awards.

"That this tweet conveys a defamatory imputation directed at discrediting Our Client, lowering his character in the estimation of right-thinking persons in society and subsequently exposing him to hatred, contempt and ridicule, as well as injuring his reputation in his personal and public life, trade and profession,"

The issue began on Twitter in early September when a Twitter user identified as 'Aoko' claimed that he was in possession of naked pictures of some politicians in the Azimio la Umoja coalition.

In her allegations, he mentioned Junet Mohamed among others, prompting him to tweet 'Where are the nudes our slut from Migori. Endelea kufungulia iicho pevu boot'.

"That when our client demanded to know why you were defaming him, you simply said that you had called 1 0 people who had told you that the lady you recklessly called a slut works for our client. You even went further to tell our client not to get annoyed as the said lady had written nasty things about you for the last two weeks. It is beyond reasonable doubt that you deliberately and unfairly targeted our client and maliciously sought to tarnish his reputation," Kivuva argues.

By the time of publishing this account, the said tweet had garnered 11, 755 comments, 1, 309 retweets and 4, 960 likes. However, the account whose tweet Junet Mohamed was responding to has been suspended.