Libel Tourism and the British Courts' support of Terrorism

[formercia]

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http://88.80.13.160/wiki/MPs_accuse_courts_of_allowing_libel_tourism

The US Congress is proposing a law to stop English courts pursuing American writers for fines over books freely available in the United States. “The case arises from the Kafkaesque position of the writer Rachel Ehrenfeld, whose book, Funding Evil, examined the flow of money towards extremist organisations that preach the ideology of hate associated with Wahhabism and other democracy-denying aspects of fundamentalist Islamic ideology,” Mr MacShane said. “It is not exactly a secret that a great deal of the money that has financed fundamentalist extremist organisations that support jihad has come from Saudi Arabia.”

Ms Ehrenfeld’s book, published in America, not Britain, named a Saudi billionaire called Mr Khalid bin Mahfouz. Although the book was published in the United States, and was not on sale in any British bookshop, he found lawyers to sue in Britain. A British judge imposed a fine and costs on Ms Ehrenfeld, and said that her book should be destroyed, even though she was not in the court. No American court would have entertained such overt censorship.

“There is no freedom of expression in Saudi Arabia, so it is the duty of others to expose what is happening. With the help of British libel lawyers, Mr Mahfouz has launched 33 suits against those who are investigating this important area of public concern. Cambridge University Press was obliged to pulp its book Alms for Jihad, written by Robert Collins and J. Millard Burr, rather than face a libel action in British courts, which seem at the moment to side with those who finance extremism rather than those who seek to curb it.

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[ihavenobias]

1. K & R, interesting stuff.

At least *I* always find it interesting to see how different countries handle these issues.

[formercia]

2. Unintended consequences.

The Brits have never been quick to fix things. There was a civil service position for a watchman that wasn't eliminated until 1944. The job was to watch the English Channel and ring a bell if Napoleon was seen crossing.