Lord Mohamed Sheikh v Associated Newspapers Ltd
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judge | Mr Justice Warby |
| Judgment Date | 04 November 2019 |
| Neutral Citation | [2019] EWHC 2947 (QB) |
| Date | 04 November 2019 |
| Docket Number | Case No: QB-2019-002376 |
| Court | High Court |
[2019] EWHC 2947 (QB)
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE
QUEEN'S BENCH DIVISION
MEDIA AND COMMUNICATIONS LIST
Royal Courts of Justice
Strand, London, WC2A 2LL
THE HON. Mr Justice Warby
Case No: QB-2019-002376
Adrienne Page QC and Sara Mansoori (instructed by Hamlins LLP) for the Claimant
Andrew Caldecott QC and Ben Gallop (instructed by RPC LLP) for the Defendant
Hearing date: 24 October 2019
Approved Judgment
Introduction
The claimant, Lord Sheikh, is a Conservative Member of the House of Lords. He sues the defendant for libel in respect of an article published by it on the Mail Online website on and after 15 August 2018 (“the Article”), under this headline:
“EXCLUSIVE: Top Tory peer's appearance at Corbyn's ‘hate conference’ in Tunisia comes after YEARS of rubbing shoulders with Islamists, hate preachers and Holocaust deniers”
The claim form was issued on 1 July 2019, and Particulars of Claim were served on 2 July 2019, a little under a year after the initial publication. The claim is for damages, including aggravated damages for libel; an order for the removal of the words complained of from the website; an injunction to restrain repetition; an order pursuant to s 12 of the Defamation Act 2013, that the defendant publish a summary of the Court's judgment; and orders pursuant to s 13 of that Act, including an order that the operator of any website on which the words complained of are posted must remove them. The defendant has indicated in correspondence that it would defend the claim “on grounds of truth, honest opinion and public interest”.
I am not now concerned with any of those issues, because on 3 September 2019, by consent, Senior Master Fontaine extended time for service of a Defence, and directed a trial of two preliminary issues: the meaning(s) borne by the words and photographs complained of, and whether such meaning(s) are statements of fact or expressions of opinion. This judgment follows the trial of those preliminary issues, which took half a day of court time on 24 October 2019.
The words and photographs complained of
Below the headline I have quoted, the following words appeared (the numbers in square brackets have been added for ease of reference):
• Lord Sheikh gave a speech at the Tunisian conference which was attended by a delegation of anti-Semitic Hamas leaders and other extremists
• He and Corbyn are fellow travellers on the extremist circuit, rubbing shoulders with jihadis, Holocaust deniers and anti-Semites
• Two Tory backbenchers have demanded an investigation
• Robert Halfon MP said: It can't be one rule for Jeremy Corbyn and one rule for Lord Sheikh
[1] A Conservative peer who gave a speech at the ‘conference of hate’ with Jeremy Corbyn in Tunisia in 2014 has been rubbing shoulders with Islamists, hate preachers and Holocaust deniers for years, MailOnline can reveal.
[2] Lord Mohammed Sheikh was the loudest Tory voice to demand that Boris Johnson have the whip withdrawn after he compared women wearing burkas to letter-boxes.
[3] Today we disclosed that Tory backbenchers Rob Halfon and Zac Goldsmith have demanded an investigation into the peer's presence at the hate-filled event, where the most anti-Semitic and bloodthirsty members of Hamas were invited.
[4] When questioned by MailOnline, Lord Sheikh said: ‘I only attended the morning session as I left the conference to rest as I was very tired,’ adding: ‘I did not meet with any members of Hamas’. He did not know about the wreath ceremony, he said.
[5] But the Tunisian event was not a one-off for Lord Sheikh. He and Jeremy Corbyn are fellow travellers on the extremist circuit, rubbing shoulders with jihadis and anti-Semites who appear to hold views inimical to Western values.
[6] The vast majority of British parliamentarians who move in these shadowy circles are from Labour and the Liberal Democrats. Lord Sheikh, 77, is one of a small number of Tories who also appear to be committed to the cause.
[7] One example is the Exhibition and Forum on Palestine, held in Mayfair in 2009, where certain British parliamentarians, Islamists and conspiracy theorists came together. Lord Sheikh and Jeremy Corbyn were both in attendance.
[8] The event featured a keynote address by Mahathir Mohamad, prime minister of Malaysia, who is responsible for choice quotes like: ‘Jews rule this world by proxy’ and ‘the Jews are not merely hook-nosed, but understand money instinctively’.
[9] ‘I am glad to be labeled anti-Semitic’, he once said. Lord Sheikh told MailOnline that he attended the event because ‘Mahathir Mohamad is a highly respected figure internationally.’
[10] But pictures taken of guests at the event show the Holocaust denier Michèle Renouf, who was quizzed by police after she gave a speech questioning the Holocaust at a neo-Nazi rally in Germany.
[11] Other attendees pictured were Cynthia Kinney, a former congresswoman who has blamed Israel for the ISIS attacks in Europe, and David Pidcock, a Muslim convert who wrote a book of conspiracy theories about Zionists, Freemasons and others.
[12] Robert Halfon MP said: ‘I am shocked by MailOnline's alleged revelations. This shows a pattern of behaviour that is all too disturbing and it is vital that the Conservative Chairman investigates. It can't be one rule for Jeremy Corbyn and one rule for Lord Sheikh.’
[13] But this is just the tip of the iceberg where Lord Sheikh, Corbyn and their colleagues are concerned.
[14] In 2009, Lord Sheikh and Corbyn visited dictator Bashar Al-Assad in Syria. Also present was Baroness Tonge, another regular on the circuit, who was suspended from the Liberal Democrats for anti-Semitism.
[15] The Syria trip was paid for by the Palestinian Return Centre (PRC), a London-based group that held a meeting in the House of Lords where the view was expressed that Hitler tried to wipe out the Jews because he had been ‘antagonised’ by a rabbi.
[16] Lord Sheikh told MailOnline that when the meeting took place, ‘President Assad was still a welcome figure in the United Kingdom’.
[17] The list goes on. The Tory peer is a supporter of Interpal, Jeremy Corbyn's pet charity which has been designated a ‘specially designated global terrorist organisation’ by the United States.
[18] In 2016, MailOnline revealed that it funded a ‘hate festival’ in Gaza, where children acted out the kidnap and murder of Jews, to baying applause from the crowd.
[19] Lord Sheikh travelled to Gaza in a delegation organised by Interpal. The group also funded a trip to Gaza for Jeremy Corbyn in 2013.
[20] It doesn't stop there. In 2010, Lord Sheikh held a reception in Parliament for the notorious East London Mosque in Tower Hamlets, and was pictured with its leaders.
[21] At the time, the East London Mosque was hosting a range of notorious hate preachers including Al Qaeda mastermind Anwar Al-Awlaki and the leaders of Cage, whose director called Jihadi John a ‘beautiful young man’.
[22] Lord Sheikh told MailOnline that he supported the mosque because it was ‘serving the Muslim community in one of the most deprived parts of Britain’.
[23] Furthermore, the peer is a supporter of a controversial Muslim charity known as the Al-Muntada Trust, welcoming them for a visit to the House of Lords in 2011.
[24] The Trust also has a long history of hosting hate preachers, including Saudi Cleric Muhammad Al-Arifi who was banned from Britain for radicalising Britons fighting in Syria. He spoke of ‘the desire to smash skulls and sever limbs for the sake of Allah’.
[25] Other extremists hosted by the Trust were Haitham Al-Haddad, one of Britain's most prominent Islamists, who has called Jews ‘descendants of apes and pigs’, and said, ‘I believe strongly in jihad’.
[26] The Trust also gave a platform to Ali al Timimi, a preacher jailed in the United States for recruiting fighters for the Taliban, and Assim al-Hakeem, who said female genital mutilation was ‘permissible’ and was barred from Sheffield University.
[27] The peer claimed that he did not know about ‘any connections of Al-Muntada to terrorism or… hate preachers’.
[28] Lord Sheikh has also been pictured supporting the Pakistani preacher Muhammad Hassan Haseeb ur-Rehman, and has appeared alongside him at a number of events.
[29] The extremist preacher praised a man who assassinated a Pakistani politician in 2011 for criticising the country's blasphemy laws. He called the killer a ‘martyr of Islam’ and a ‘lover of the prophet’.
[30] Once again, the peer claimed that he ‘was not aware of his opinions’ at the time.
[31] Lord Sheikh is also a friend of the Islam Channel, which Ofcom has found guilty of extremism in the past. He appeared at an Eid Gala fundraising dinner for the channel in July this year, and said he was unaware of its connection to extremism.
[32] Lord Sheikh, the founder and president of the Conservative Muslim Forum, was made a life peer in 2006 after joining the Tories just two years earlier.
[33] He is Chairman of the Conservative Ethnic Diversity Council, responsible for promoting ethnic minorities and creating harmony between groups of different heritages within the party.
[34] In addition, he pointed out to MailOnline, he is a member of the All-Party Parliamentary Group Against Antisemitism.
[35] ‘At school, my best friend was a Jewish boy and I have connections with Jewish families,' he said.’ My views on Palestine are very balanced and I have always felt that there needs to be a solution which is acceptable to both parties.
[36] ‘I am against any form of terrorism and I have said this at a dinner organised by His Excellency Mark Regev, the Israeli Ambassador. This dinner was organised at the Ambassador's residence.
[37] ‘I am actively involved in promoting Interfaith Dialogue and the strengthening of relations between various religions and races.’
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