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 here
The legal row between a UK blog and a Muslim activist could be a landmark case, writes Padraig Reidy
(more…)
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 here
A recent French court decision leaves us no closer to the truth about footage that shook the Middle East, writes Natasha Lehrer
A seven-year debate over the authenticity of the footage of the death of Mohammed al Dura in the arms of his father Jamal reached a new stage on 21 May when the Paris Court of Appeal overturned a defamation verdict against blogger Philippe Karsenty.
In 2004 Karsenty joined the chorus voicing scepticism about the al Dura footage. He accused the veteran France 2 Middle East correspondent Charles Enderlin, who provided the voiceover for the report from Gaza, which was filmed by freelance cameraman Talal Abu Ramah, of knowingly having broadcast faked footage of the shooting at the Netzarim Junction on 30 September 2000. Enderlin and France 2 have consistently rebutted this accusation and have so far taken four bloggers, including Karsenty, to court. In the original court case, in 2006, the court did not demand that France 2 hand over the rushes. Karsenty was found guilty of defamation.
(more…)