£165,000 Libel Award Follows False Al Qaeda Allegations

 

The exiled leader of Tunisia’s democratic opposition has received one of the largest libel awards made by the Court over the past decade following accusations broadcast by a global television news channel which falsely linked him to Al Qaeda.

Mr Justice Eady ordered the Dubai-based Al Arabiya News Channel to pay £165,000 in damages to Sheikh Rashid Ghannouchi (leader of the An Nahda party) following its broadcast of a rolling news item which also wrongly alleged that he was one of a number of extremist Islamic figures specifically targeted by British anti-terrorism measures in the wake of the London bombings of July 2005.

The Judge noted that “The words were broadcast shortly after the terrorist incidents in London in July 2005 when feelings were still very raw”, but that “no attempt has been made at any stage on the defendant’s behalf to suggest that there is a grain of truth in what they said about this claimant.”

The size of the award reflected the extremely serious nature of the allegation and the fact that the international satellite broadcast could have threatened Mr Ghannouchi’s right to stay in the UK where he and his family have been granted political asylum. Mr Justice Eady also referred to the fact that the evidence before him demonstrated that Mr Ghannouchi was “opposed to violence and terrorism”.

Mr Ghannouchi was represented by Carter-Ruck Managing Partner Cameron Doley and Athalie Matthews.

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Summer 2008