Libel terrorism

A new entry for the rapidly burgeoning war-on-terror dictionary: “libel terrorism”.

In February, the New York state senate unanimously passed a “Libel Terrorism Protection” bill which protects writers in New York from being sued under foreign libel laws.

The initiative came after a Saudi businessman, Sheikh Kalid bin Mahfouz, sued writer Rachel Ehrenfeld, on the basis of a successful action in Britain 3 years ago. Ehrenfeld’s book, Funding Evil, alleges Mafouz used charities to fund terrorism. Although never published in the UK, 23 copies found their way into the country, and the publishers were not only forced to pay substantial damages, but to shred the offending books.

The New York legislature’s move is part of a wider backlash against the “libel tourism” for which Britain has become famed. One can’t help noting the irony, however, that while the UK upholds some of the world’s the most draconian defamation laws, its tabloid press is notorious for its “lax” reporting ethics—as the aforementioned Ms Power recently discovered to her cost.