Mycroft
23rd March 2005, 09:11 AM
(March 21, 2005) -- When Rachel Ehrenfeld, author of the book "Funding Evil: How Terrorism Is Financed and How to Stop It," opened her apartment door just before 10 p.m. on March 3, she believed she was simply receiving some legal papers from London. But this was no ordinary messenger. According to Ehrenfeld, the visitor carried a warning as well: "You had better respond. Sheik bin Mahfouz is a very important person, and you really ought to take very good care of yourself."
"I expected to receive some legal papers, not a threat from a Saudi sheik in my own country," Ehrenfeld told me last week.
The ease with which foreigners, like this billionaire Saudi sheik, now pursue damaging lawsuits against American writers and publications in foreign courts is astonishing. Bin Mahfouz is listed as number 210 on the new Forbes list of 620 billionaires in the world.
....
In an attempt to circumvent the First Amendment protection of American writers like Ehrenfeld, Mahfouz has successfully sued or settled with over 30 publications and authors for defamation and libel in British courts for years. "That many legal actions brought in a plaintiff-friendly jurisdiction evidences a consistent campaign by Mahfouz to silence any author, journalist, or publication who attempt to analyze or document any role he may have had in funneling the money of the Saudi royal family or wealthy Saudi families to terrorist activities," Korenstein points out.
While the standards for libel and defamation in the United States put the burden of proof on the plaintiff, in the United Kingdom it is up to the defendant. And credible testimony alone does not establish proof. If an author cites a quotation by the former secretary of state, Madeleine Albright, which is attacked as defamatory, the direct testimony of Albright is insufficient proof without the underlying material she based her statement upon.
Because of the heavy expenses involved in countering Mafouz's suits and the very different standards of proof in British courts, authors and publications with assets in the United Kingdom have settled, including The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and The New York Times. (A list of the legal actions is on the Mahfouz Web site.)
But Ehrenfeld never published "Funding Evil" in the United Kingdom. Fewer than 30 copies entered the United Kingdom, presumably through Internet sales and special orders following its publication in the United States in 2003. And yet she had a default judgment entered against her by British Judge Eady on December 7, 2004, for defamation of Mahfouz. A penalty hearing has been set for April 29 to consider Mahfouz's claim for legal expenses and damages, a retraction by Ehrenfeld of the passages objected to in the suit, and injunctive relief preventing any further appearance of her book in the United Kingdom.
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/columns/shoptalk_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000847332
If it's this easy to sue someone in the UK, how is it that anyone publishes anything there?
"I expected to receive some legal papers, not a threat from a Saudi sheik in my own country," Ehrenfeld told me last week.
The ease with which foreigners, like this billionaire Saudi sheik, now pursue damaging lawsuits against American writers and publications in foreign courts is astonishing. Bin Mahfouz is listed as number 210 on the new Forbes list of 620 billionaires in the world.
....
In an attempt to circumvent the First Amendment protection of American writers like Ehrenfeld, Mahfouz has successfully sued or settled with over 30 publications and authors for defamation and libel in British courts for years. "That many legal actions brought in a plaintiff-friendly jurisdiction evidences a consistent campaign by Mahfouz to silence any author, journalist, or publication who attempt to analyze or document any role he may have had in funneling the money of the Saudi royal family or wealthy Saudi families to terrorist activities," Korenstein points out.
While the standards for libel and defamation in the United States put the burden of proof on the plaintiff, in the United Kingdom it is up to the defendant. And credible testimony alone does not establish proof. If an author cites a quotation by the former secretary of state, Madeleine Albright, which is attacked as defamatory, the direct testimony of Albright is insufficient proof without the underlying material she based her statement upon.
Because of the heavy expenses involved in countering Mafouz's suits and the very different standards of proof in British courts, authors and publications with assets in the United Kingdom have settled, including The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and The New York Times. (A list of the legal actions is on the Mahfouz Web site.)
But Ehrenfeld never published "Funding Evil" in the United Kingdom. Fewer than 30 copies entered the United Kingdom, presumably through Internet sales and special orders following its publication in the United States in 2003. And yet she had a default judgment entered against her by British Judge Eady on December 7, 2004, for defamation of Mahfouz. A penalty hearing has been set for April 29 to consider Mahfouz's claim for legal expenses and damages, a retraction by Ehrenfeld of the passages objected to in the suit, and injunctive relief preventing any further appearance of her book in the United Kingdom.
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/columns/shoptalk_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000847332
If it's this easy to sue someone in the UK, how is it that anyone publishes anything there?