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Saudi Lawyer Hopes to Win 'Significant' Damages Over Mo' Cartoons in UK Courts
(CNSNews.com) -- The Saudi lawyer acting for "descendants of Mohammed" who claim their forbear was defamed by cartoons published in Danish newspapers hopes to use courts in Britain, a popular center for "libel tourism," to secure damages.Faisal Yamani's efforts to get more than a dozen newspapers to issue formal public apologies for reprinting a series of cartoons depicting Mohammed have been largely unsuccessful, although one liberal daily, Politiken, recently agreed to do so, raising concerns about the implications for free speech. Yamani is now eyeing courts in Britain, where people with little or no connection to Britain have successfully sued for libel, in some cases because the allegedly offending material has been accessible to Internet users in Britain. The Saudi says he represents eight organizations, based in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Libya, Qatar, Jordan, Australia and the Palestinian self-rule territories, whose members together comprise almost 95,000 descendants of Mohammed. In communications with the newspapers, Yamani said their decision to publish the cartoons -- he cited in particular one depicting a man with a turban shaped like a bomb -- had left his clients "personally insulted, emotionally distressed and defamed." Denmark's justice minister, Lars Barfoed, told the Danish Berlingske Tidende newspaper it would be unacceptable if British courts could rule against Danish media organizations and require them to pay damages and legal costs. Posted by: Fred 2010-03-18 |
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