June 16th, 2009
A Thai court has dismissed a criminal defamation lawsuit filed by Tesco Lotus against former MP Jit Siratranont. The judgment said Jit’s comments on Tesco were “in good faith by way of fair comment on any person or thing subjected to public criticism”. The court also dismissed the claim of one billion baht damages by Tesco.Tags: Tags: Jit Siratranont, libel, tesco, thailand,
June 15th, 2009
English libel law turns US protection for free speech on its head. Floyd Abrams considers how the UK became an international libel tribunal
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Tags: Tags: berezovsky, bin mahfouz, defamation, floyd abrams, libel, libel tourism,
May 27th, 2009
Iraq’s national intelligence service has launched a court action to sue the Guardian, claiming to have been defamed by a story that characterised the regime of prime minister Nouri al-Maliki as autocratic. Read more hereTags: Tags: defamation, iraq, libel, Nouri al-Maliki, the Guardian,
May 7th, 2009
The English High Court has ruled that science writer Simon Singh, must show that the British Chiropractic Association (BCA) was deliberately dishonest in promoting chiropractic as a treatment for various children’s ailments.
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Tags: Tags: bca, Justice Eady, libel, Simon Singh,
April 23rd, 2009
Daily Mail editor Paul Dacre today told MPs on the Commons Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee that ‘no-win no-fee’ deals for libel are a ‘lethal weapon’ crushing press freedom. Read more hereTags: Tags: Daily Mail, libel, Paul Dacre,
April 16th, 2009
The Supreme Court of Indonesia has overturned a £62 million libel ruling against Time magazine relating to claims that the late President Suharto had amassed a fortune through corruption. Index on Censorship and other media organisations and NGOs made representations in what was seen as a crucial free expression case. Read more hereTags: Tags: free expression, index on censorship, indonesia, libel, suharto,
April 1st, 2009
The UK government’s retention of this archaic legislation only serves to justify oppression in other countries, writes
Evan Harris
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Tags: Tags: coroners and justice bill, evan harris, libel, UK,
March 31st, 2009
Evening Standard and Novaya Gazeta owner Alexander Lebedev is to sue Forbes magazine for libel after it claimed he had lost $2.5 billlion in the financial crisis. Read more hereTags: Tags: alexander lebedev, evening standard, forbes, libel, novaya gazeta, UK,
March 26th, 2009
Britain’s libel laws are a malign force far beyond just celebrity journalism. Radical reform is overdue, writes
Jo Glanville
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Tags: Tags: libel,
February 24th, 2009
Justice minister Bridget Prentice has announced a consultation into costs in English libel cases. (more…)Tags: Tags: libel, libel tourism,
February 19th, 2009
An Oxford University study has found that conditional fee agreements are proving a bar to UK newspapers defending libel actions. Read more hereTags: Tags: libel,
November 19th, 2008
Indonesia’s rich and powerful such as Aburiza Bakrie prefer to subject media outlets to criminal proceedings rather than use the press law, writes David Jardine
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Tags: Tags: censorship, indonesia, libel,
September 16th, 2008
Tesco has dropped its legal action against the Guardian after the newspaper published a front-page apology and assented to paying Tesco’s damages to a charity of its choice, as well as its costs. (more…)August 27th, 2008
Amare Aregawi, editor for Ethiopian weekly the Reporter, was arrested on 22 August in connection with a libel case lodged by the Dashen brewery in Gondar. (more…)Tags: Tags: Ethiopia, libel, the Reporter,
August 26th, 2008
Today’s apology to Salman Rushdie in the high court could take the chill off future defamation cases.
Index on Censorship reports
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July 24th, 2008
Journalist Mohamed Ould Abdelatif and publisher Mohamed Nema Oumar were arrested on 21 July, accused of libelling three judges. The arrests followed an article in the privately owned Arabic weekly al Hurriya about criminal appeal judges accepting bribes for the release of alleged drug traffickers. The article also claimed the judges were ‘known for their great experience of corruption’. It is the latest in a series of arrests of journalists where the media regulator’s authority was bypassed. (more…)Tags: Tags: corruption, drugs, libel, Mauritania,
July 14th, 2008
Independent Democratic senator Joe Lieberman and Republican senator Arlen Specter have introduced a new bill to the Senate that seeks to protect US authors from UK libel judgments. The Freedom of Speech Protection Act follows on the heels of New York State’s ‘Rachel’s Law’ which was introduced in New York after US author Rachel Ehrenfeld was sued by Sheikh Khalid Bin Mahfouz in a London court. Read more hereJuly 10th, 2008
The legal row between a UK blog and a Muslim activist could be a landmark case, writes Padraig Reidy
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July 10th, 2008
British blog Harry’s Place is facing legal action from Mohammed Sawalha, the President of the British Muslim Initiative, after a post on the site claimed that an Al Jazeera article quoted him referring to ‘the evil Jew’ in Britain. Harry’s Place, which has been running for five years, is one of the most influential and controversial UK political blogs, focussing on criticism of what it sees as collaboration between the British left and Islamist extremist groups. A BBC documentary has previously identified Mr Sawalha as a member of Palestinian group Hamas. Read more hereApril 25th, 2008
The Russian State Duma voted 339-1 today to tighten media rules on slander and libel. (more…)April 18th, 2008
The retail giant is displaying a sudden enthusiasm for libel courts, writes Roby Alampay
In the space of five months, four libel suits have been filed by Tesco, one of the world’s biggest retailers, and its subsidiary in Thailand, Tesco Lotus.
The latest of those suits, filed this month in Britain, targets the Guardian for a story on Tesco’s tax filings. The three other defamation charges were all filed between November 2007 and March 2008 in Thailand by Tesco Lotus, Tesco’s subsidiary in that country, and summon to court a former legislator and current consumer advocate, as well as two columnists, who criticised the company’s expansion in the land. At least one of the columnists also raised questions about Tesco Lotus’s accounting and tax filing procedures.
Tesco Lotus’s impact on the Thai retail industry has been a topic of public discussion ever since the company’s entry into the Thai market in 1998.
That the company would now seek damages against advocates and media practitioners signals to some observers an attempt to now simply avoid that continuing debate.
The Thai Journalists Association this week called for an emergency meeting, recognizing the impact Tesco Lotus actions may have on press freedom and free expression in Thailand. The Southeast Asian Press Alliance, of which the TJA is a member, has called the defamation suits ‘pure acts of harassment against civil society and the press’, and warned that the ‘absurd’ damages sought could have a chilling effect on Thai journalists and advocates critical of Tesco.
Indeed, SEAPA notes that Tesco Lotus’ defamation suits test a new law in Thailand that seeks to empower publishing companies, but which may apparently also leave individual journalists feeling more vulnerable.
Thailand’s Press Registration Act of 2006, among other things, removes the requirement of a permit for setting up newspapers and also protects newspaper editors and publishers from automatically sharing in defamation suits brought against their writers. Under the 1941 law the Press Registration Act of 2006 replaces, the editor (and/or the publisher) and the author had to share the liability.
Now entities filing defamation charges have the option to sue just individual writers — which is exactly what Tesco Lotus has done, suing the two Thai columnists for $3.3m each, and the former legislator and current consumer activist for $33m. SEAPA is concerned that the strategy sends a chilling message as well as divisive attack on the media sector as a whole, resonating with individual journalists while sending the signal to their principals and companies not to get involved.
For more information, visit the SEAPA website at www.seapa.org
Index on Censorship is Britain’s leading organisation promoting freedom of expression. With its global profile, its website provides up-to-the-minute news and information on free expression from around the world.
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