News

« Headlines

US academic fights UK libel ruling

A US academic is fighting to stop an English judge silencing her suspicions that a Saudi sheikh may have bank-rolled al-Qaeda, reports the Times.

Although Rachel Ehrenfeld’s book Funding Evil was published only in America, Sheikh Khalid bin Mahfouz turned to the London courts to bring a successful libel action against the author. She, in turn, is asking a New York judge to defend her right to freedom of speech by making Mr Justice Eady’s order unenforceable in the US.

Sheikh bin Mahfouz and his sons were awarded £30,000 against Dr Ehrenfeld in 2005, although only 23 copies of her book entered England and one chapter had been posted on the internet.

The Times

See Also