Saudi businessman wins libel case against leading UK publisher

30 July 2007

By Jumana Al Tamimi

Dubai: A Saudi businessman won yesterday a case against an internationally renowned publisher of a book alleging that he supported and funded terrorist activities, his lawyer announced yesterday.

Jeddah-based Shaikh Khalid Bin Mahfouz, who has been for many years Chairman of Saudi Arabia's National Commercial Bank, initiated libel procedures against the Cambridge University Press earlier this year shortly after last year's release of Alms for Jihad, noted Laurence Harris, head of the 3-member solicitor team acting for Shaikh Khalid in a telephone interview with Gulf News from London.

The book made a series of allegations, including that Shaikh Khalid and his family had supported Osama Bin Laden and funded terrorist activities.

However, the High Court in London announced yesterday that "Cambridge University Press acknowledged that neither Shaikh Khalid nor any of his family had ever supported or funded terrorist activities and that the allegations made in the book were wholly untrue and unjustified," said a statement from Kendall Freeman, solicitors acting for Shaikh Khalid.

Substantial damages

The publisher undertook to the court not to repeat the allegations. While Harris pointed out that Shaikh Khalid has received comprehensive apologies in similar previous cases in both England and Europe which the lawyers have "won them all", he pointed out that "unusual feature of this case" was that such a famous publisher is not only going to pulp all unsold copies of the book, it will also write to hundreds of libraries around the world notifying them of the settlement and asking them to withdraw the book from their shelves.

Furthermore, "the company will be publishing a detailed apology on its website, and paying substantial damages as well as making a contribution to Shaikh Khalid's legal costs".

Harris declined to provide further details concerning the financial settlement, saying this was agreed upon by the different parties in the case, and this is usual in such cases. However, he said "we can say they are substantial damages".

Earlier, Kendall's statement said Shaikh Khalid will donate the damages and costs paid by the Cambridge University Press to Unicef.