King v Telegraph Group Ltd (Practice Note)
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judge | Lord Justice Brooke,Lord Justice Jonathan Parker,Lord Justice Maurice Kay |
| Judgment Date | 18 May 2004 |
| Neutral Citation | [2004] EWCA Civ 613 |
| Docket Number | Case No: A2/2003/1393 & A2/2003/1393B |
| Court | Court of Appeal (Civil Division) |
| Date | 18 May 2004 |
[2004] EWCA Civ 613
Lord Justice Brooke
Vice-President of The Court of Appeal (Civil Division)
Lord Justice Jonathan Parker and
Lord Justice Maurice Kay
Case No: A2/2003/1393 & A2/2003/1393B
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF JUDICATURE
COURT OF APPEAL (CIVIL DIVISION)
ON APPEAL FROM QUEEN'S BENCH DIVISION
Eady J
Royal Courts of Justice
Strand,
London, WC2A 2LL
Andrew Caldecott QC & Godwin Busuttil (instructed by Farrer & Co) for the Appellants
Richard Rampton QC & Harvey Starte (instructed by Peter Carter-Ruck and Partners) for the Respondents
This is an appeal by the defendants, the Telegraph Group Ltd, from certain parts of an order made by Mr Justice Eady in this libel action on 9 th June 2003. The appeal falls into two distinct parts. The defendants complain that the judge should not have struck out certain parts of their defence of justification, and they also contend that he ought to have made some kind of special order for their protection because the claimant had brought this action under a conditional fee agreement ("CFA") without taking out an "after the event" ("ATE") insurance policy.
The parties' very full statements of case set out clearly what is in issue in this action. The claimant is a website designer. He has created on his own website, which bears the name of Mathaba.net ("the Mathaba site"), what he describes as an internet news service, political forum and reference tool. He is also the founder of Green Charter International, which he describes as an organ devoted to promoting the Green Charter of Human Rights ("GCHR"). In 1990 he changed his name by deed poll from Louis Szondy to Adam Musa King, although he is still widely known by his original name. He is a convert to Islam, although he says that since 1996 he should be regarded as a non-practising Muslim, and he no longer observes the central pillars of that faith.
The defendants maintain that the Mathaba site contains or provides direct access to websites which contain Islamic extremist propaganda. They also contend that the GCHR does not accord with internationally accepted standards of human rights, and that it has only been accepted by the state of Libya. While not denying any of these propositions, the claimant requires the defendants to prove them.
The claimant accepts that he has enjoyed a long-standing connection with a man named Francis Etim, who has also adopted a Muslim name. He denies that the connection was a close one, and he puts the defendants to proof as to its precise nature. In the autumn of 2001, when the two articles which are at the centre of this action were published, Mr Etim was in custody awaiting trial on charges under the terrorism legislation, on which he was eventually acquitted in August 2002.
In early 2000 the claimant helped Mr Etim by constructing a website for his business known as Sakina Security Services ("the Sakina site"). He accepts that he registered the domain name for this site, and that his own name was registered as the point of contact on technical matters for so long as the domain registration lasted. He also accepts that Mr Etim asked him to do whatever was necessary to set up his business as a limited company, and that he asked his accountant to carry out this work for Mr Etim. He does not know if the accountant ever met Mr Etim, or if he was ever paid by Mr Etim for his services. For about one month his own site carried material destined for the Sakina site.
The claimant maintains that his role was confined to making whatever simple formatting and design improvements were needed before he loaded the Sakina material onto the Sakina site. He was not involved in writing it or editing it or deciding on its content: Mr Etim supplied this to him.
One of the web pages on the Sakina site contained an advertisement for what was described as "The Ultimate Jihad Challenge". This advertisement related to a two-week firearms training course at a shooting range in the United States, and described the various weaponry skills that would be taught there. The defendants also maintain that during 2001 Mr Etim received training in the use of weapons at a camp in South Wales.
They also say that the Sakina site offered an encryption key, for use by those who wished to conceal the fact that they were accessing the site. The claimant for his part maintains that the only encryption facility on the site was a common facility which enabled e-mails to be encrypted.
The parties' statements of case also disclose issues relating to the nature and extent of the claimant's admiration of Colonel Gadaffi, the president of Libya, and the fact that he once posted on his own Mathaba site classified documents which Mr David Shayler had stolen from MI5. These issues, however, are only tangentially connected with the matters we have to decide on this appeal.
It appears that the defendants' interest in the claimant was aroused when the police visited their offices on Friday 19 th October 2001 (shortly after the destruction by terrorists of the World Trade Centre in New York) and accidentally left there a list of the names of 24 people into whom the Anti-Terrorist Branch was conducting an official investigation. Most of the names on the list were obviously Islamic, but the list contained the name of "Adam Moussa" and at least one other person with an English sounding name.
On the following Sunday, 21 st October, the defendants published in the Sunday Telegraph the first of the two articles of which complaint is made in this action. It was headed "Two white suspects in Bin Laden probe" and it read as follows:
"Detectives are investigating two white people in Britain who they suspect of aiding Osama bin Laden's terror network.
Secret Scotland Yard documents, obtained by The Sunday Telegraph, name two men – one of whom is understood to be a computer expert – as assisting al-Qaeda's network in this country. It is the first time since September 11 that white non-Muslims have been accused of involvement in Islamic extremism.
The documents reveal that a special unit has been established at the Yard to carry out 'Operation Full Circle', to monitor the two white men and 22 other suspects. All are being investigated to establish whether they have committed terrorist offences.
The Sunday Telegraph cannot name the two for legal and operational reasons.
One of the two white men on the list, the computer expert, is believed to have assisted bin Laden operatives with website activities. He is named in the document as also being linked to Francis Etim, who has been charged under the Prevention of Terrorism Act. Etim, who lived in Greenwich, south-east London, was born in Britain and converted to Islam at marriage and changed his name to Sulayman Zain-Ul-Abidin.
Also on the list is a white man with a French name. Little is known of him, except that he has adopted several aliases. He is believed to be wanted in connection with Algerian plots to attack France."
One of the issues to be decided at the trial is whether this article would have been understood by its readers to refer to the claimant. At all events he contends that the natural and ordinary meaning of these words is that
"there were strong grounds to suspect the claimant of being a supporter and accomplice of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network of terrorists who had assisted in that network's terrorist operations by helping with website activities".
There is no dispute that the second article, which was published in The Sunday Telegraph on 9 th December 2001, does refer to the claimant. It is headed "British Muslim targeted by FBI for terror link", and the other words complained of read as follows:
"The FBI wants to question a white British Muslim computer expert, who lobbies for the Libyan government, about his alleged links to Osama bin Laden's terror network.
Louis Szondy, who also calls himself Adam Moussa, is on the list of 24 people sent to the British police by the FBI. He is the second white Briton to appear on the list.
This newspaper has already revealed that American intelligence officers want to talk to Mark Yates, a weapons expert from Liverpool who allegedly trained Muslims who might later have become members of Osama bin Laden's al-Qa'eda terror network.
Mr Szondy, who is married and has an address in Harlesden, North London, runs a computer firm called Unitel which has offices in Burton-on-Trent and the Sudan. He also supports Colonel Gaddafi and the Libyan regime. Two years ago he changed his name by deed poll to Adam Moussa, apparently calling himself after a senior figure within the Libyan intelligence service.
The Special Branch has established that Mr Szondy developed a website for Sakina Security, the London-based organisation which is suspected of providing military training for young Muslims. The website includes enhanced security features which allow Sakina to keep some of its activities secret.
Francis Etim, the man behind Sakina, is now being held in Belmarsh prison awaiting trial on terrorism charges, which he denies. Mr Szondy has close links with Sakina Security and allegedly still holds the registration of the internet domain name Sakinasecurity.com.
Through the website, Sakina offered what it described as 'the Ultimate Jihad challenge' – a two-week course in shooting and 'bone breaking'.
Unitel has also allowed Sakina to use its facilities and provided access to the services of a business registration firm. London-based British Monomarks, a kind of private post office, allows companies to use its premises as their headquarters. An official said: 'Mr...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Mitsubishi Electric Europe B.v v Design Air Ltd
...capping may therefore be expensive and is likely to be applied mainly to larger multi-track cases (see King v Telegraph Group [2004] EWCA Civ 613). Requests from one party that the other party's costs be capped are increasing in frequency at case management conferences. APPENDIX 1 GUIDELINE......
-
Michael Johnathan Christopher Oldham v (1) Stephen Katz (acting as joint liquidator of MK Airlines)
...v Broad [2009] EWCA Civ 2; ( Jones v MBNA International Bank unreported, CA (Civ), 30 June 2000); and King Telegraph Group Ltd [2004] EWCA Civ 613, [2005] 1 WLR 2282. 132 Finally, even if that were not the case, the Appellant is not in a position to press those arguments to any convincing ......
-
(on the application of The Plantagenet Alliance Ltd) v Secretary of State for Justice (First Defendant) The University of Leicester (Second Defendant) The Members for the Time Being of the Chapter, the council and the College of Canons of the Cathedral of Saint Martin Leicester (First Interested Party) The Members for the Time Being of the Chapter, the Council and the College of Canons of the Cathedral and Metropolitan Church of Saint Peter York (Second Interested Party)
...PCO may arise ( Corner House, ibid, at [76]). 19 The Court of Appeal in Corner House said that the earlier guidance in the case of King v Telegraph Group Ltd [2004] EWCA Civ 613 at [101–2] (a defamation case) will "always" be applicable, but rephrased the King guidance in the present contex......
-
Campbell v MGN Ltd (No. 2) (Costs)
...the defendant's own costs were equally high. That was particularly evident in the case of King v Telegraph Group Ltd [Practice Note] [2005] 1 WLR 2282, to which Eady J referred. In that case also, the claimant was without means and had no ATE insurance. Nevertheless, as Brooke LJ observed: ......
-
Employee Competition: Recent Cases
...focused requests confined to what is necessary and proportionate so as to avoid disproportionate expense: King v Telegraph Group Ltd [2005] 1 WLR 2282 per Brooke LJ at Relevant authorities The Judge considered relevant authorities at paras 18-24. He began with what he called the trite propo......
-
England and Wales
...Regulations 2000, SI 2000/692, reg 3(1)(a).45. The Conditional Fee Agreements Order 2000, SI 2000/823.46. King v. Telegraph Group Ltd[2005] 1 WLR 2282; Smart v. East Cheshire NHS Trust [2003] EWHC2806; Solutia UK Ltd v. Griffiths [2002] PIQR P176. Striking examples in GLOs are Various Ledwa......
-
Defamation law and free speech: Reynolds v. Times Newspapers and the English media.
...supra note 34. (484.) Id. (485.) Second Interview with Anonymous Times Lawyer, supra note 250. (486.) King v. Telegraph Group Ltd., [2004] E.W.C.A. Civ. 613 (Eng. (487.) Id. [paragraph] 37. (488.) Id. [paragraphs] 37-61. (489.) Id. [paragraph] 59. (490.) Interview with Second Anonymous Guar......
-
The Compensation Culture: Cliché or Cause for Concern?
...withArticle 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights' (2005) 24 Civil Justice Q. 1,at 12.71 Musa King v. Sunday Telegraph [2004] EWCA Civ. 613 (affirming EWHC 1312);Zuckerman, id., p. 5.72 See, for example, com/2010/03/update-on-10-success-fee-order-commons.html> for a summary of the tr......