[DailyWire] Famed conservative journalist Douglas Murray scored a major legal victory Tuesday, as a UK court dismissed a defamation lawsuit brought by a radical Islamist, ruling that the plaintiff “lied on significant issues” and presented evidence deemed “worthless.”
After Murray wrote a column in September 2022 in The Spectator that claimed Mohammed Hijab,
| …the overeducated son of Egyptian immigrants who fancies himself a public intellectual and apologist for Islam, who since 2015 has been whipping up Moslem crowds and debating anti-Islam personalities along the lines of Mr. Murray, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, and Jordan Peterson… |
whose legal name is Mohamad Nabil Hegab, “was a street agitator who, in the context of disturbances’ between local Muslims and Hindus,’ whipped up his followers and made disparaging comments about Hindus,” the court’s ruling explained, Hijab sued, claiming the article had caused reputational harm and loss of earnings.
The judge dismissed Hijab’s defamation completely, writing:
As a witness he was combative and constantly argumentative. He sought, at every turn, to debate with counsel, responding to questions with (rhetorical) questions of his own, arguing his case rather than giving straightforward responses, and denigrating the character of the second defendant to whom he bears palpable personal animosity. I am satisfied that he lied on significant issues, with the consequence that his evidence, overall, is worthless. Specifically, I am satisfied that he lied in respect of the event at Golders Green, the counter-protest at the rally for Israel, the seminar on Hinduism at the Sapience Institute, his repudiation of vigilantism, his evidence as to the involvement of the Hindutva, his evidence about his choice of language in his speech, and his evidence in support of his claim for financial losses.
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