Tag: defamation

  • After conspiracy allegations, PPP says no hand in dictatorship-style defamation law

    After conspiracy allegations, PPP says no hand in dictatorship-style defamation law

    A day after the highly controversial Punjab defamation bill became law, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Governor Saleem Haider tried to dissociate the party from the legislation, saying the PPP is against the defamation law.

    “I tried to stop the [passage] of the defamation bill as Governor,” he stated while speaking to media in Dubai.

    Interim Punjab Governor Malik Muhammad Ahmad Khan signed the bill into law in the absence of Haider while journalists called the move deceiving.

    The Governor, who is currently on leave also added, “I did not sign the bill. However, it will become law automatically after the passing of 15 days.”

    The bill has invited strong criticism from journalists, human rights organisations, and the opposition calling it a “black law.”

    The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) also expressed grave concern over the defamation bill.

  • Asfandyar Wali wins defamation case against PTI leader

    Asfandyar Wali wins defamation case against PTI leader

    In a significant legal victory, Awami National Party (ANP) chief Asfandyar Wali Khan has emerged triumphant in a defamation lawsuit against Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) leader and former provincial minister Shaukat Ali Yousafzai, resulting in a Rs150 million judgment in his favor.

    Additional district and session judge Ejazur Rehman Qazi announced an ex parte verdict in the case as Yousafzai didn’t attend court proceedings.

    Asfandyar had sued the PTI leader through his counselsc Tariq Afghan and Sajeed Afridi, for alleging in a presser on July 25, 2019, that the ANP chief had “sold Pashtuns for $25 million.”

    Yousafzai was the spokesman for the then-PTI government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

    The counsel for Asfandyar told the court that their client was the son of Pakhtun leader Khan Abdul Wali Khan and the grandson of Pakhtun leader Bacha Khan, both prominent leaders of international repute in the Independence Movement.

    They emphasized Asfandyar Wali Khan’s extensive political experience, having served multiple terms in the National Assembly, as well as in the Senate and the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly.

    The court noted that while the plaintiff presented six witnesses and substantial evidence, the defendant failed to attend court proceedings and produced only one witness. Consequently, the court proceeded ex parte against Yousafzai.

    In its detailed judgment, the court emphasized that the burden of proof lay with the defendant, who failed to provide any evidence to substantiate his allegations. The court determined that the derogatory remarks made by Yousafzai during the press conference were defamatory and lacked any justification or explanation.

    Based on the evidence presented, the court ruled in favor of Asfandyar, awarding him Rs100 million in damages and an additional Rs50 million in aggravated damages. The judgment underscored that the plaintiff had successfully established his case and was entitled to the decree sought.

  • Maryam Nawaz slammed on social media over ‘defamation’ law

    Maryam Nawaz slammed on social media over ‘defamation’ law

    Maryam Nawaz, Chief Minister Punjab, took to X (former Twitter) and announced that she is making a defamation law for Punjab.

    X user Faisal Ranjha asked in a tweet whether this government will be able to make a strong defamation law to counter lies and fake news. In response to that, Maryam quote tweeted, “I am making that law for Punjab.”

    Social media users reacted by mentioning how such laws already exist and are misused against political rivals and journalists.

    Lawyer and co-founder of Bolo Bhi, Farieha Aziz, said, “And it begins. ‘We need more laws’ to counter “fake news” & strengthen defamation narrative. Because Defamation Ordianance, 499 & 500 of PPC & 20 of PECA don’t already exist? Laws are implemented through same broken system. Malicious proceedings swift, genuine ones face delays.”

    Member of Awami Workers Party Ammar Rashid said, “While their overlords block X to shut down criticism, PMLN leadership openly announcing its intention to further criminalize attempts to hold public officeholders to account using the bogeyman of defamation & fake news. We must all shut up b/c our ruling elite is too insecure.”

    Film maker Arafat Mazhar said, “No “I” will be allowed to make that law. only a “we”, that too which represents democratic will, can make that law (unless it is to protect marginalised people from Tyranny of majority) Also this proposed defamation law is a disaster. Please maafi deh du. Aur Kitni awaz dabao gey?”

  • Jury orders Trump to pay $83 million for sexual assault defamation

    Jury orders Trump to pay $83 million for sexual assault defamation

    A jury in New York ordered former US president and 2024 candidate Donald Trump on Friday to pay $83.3 million to compensate the writer E. Jean Carroll, whom he was found to have sexually assaulted and defamed.

    The civil order, which prompted an audible gasp in the federal court, far exceeds the more than $10 million in damages for defamation that Carroll had sought.

    Trump lashed out almost immediately, calling the verdict “ridiculous” in a statement and promising to appeal.

    The jury reached its decision after slightly less than three hours of deliberations.

    Trump had been in court earlier, storming out at one point but subsequently returning for closing arguments. He was not in court when the level of compensatory and punitive damages were read out by a court clerk.

    “This is a great victory for every woman who stands up when she’s been knocked down, and a huge defeat for every bully who has tried to keep a woman down,” Carroll said in a statement.

    A juror exchanged a smile with Carroll as the nine men and women left the courtroom after the judge encouraged them to protect their privacy.

    “It’s clear to me… you paid attention,” Judge Lewis Kaplan told the jury following the verdict.

    The order was comprised of $65 million in punitive damages after the jury found Trump acted maliciously in his many public comments about Carroll, $7.3 million in compensatory damages and $11 million for a reputational repair program.

    “I was not surprised (by the award) partly because his egregious misbehavior during the trial could actually have alienated the jury,” said Carl Tobias, a professor at the University of Richmond School of Law.

    “(Trump) is unlikely to prevail on appeal, because the (appeal) judges have great respect for Judge Kaplan, who is a very experienced federal jurist.”

    Trump — whom a jury found liable for sexually assaulting Carroll in a separate federal civil case in New York — used his Truth Social platform to fire off a spate of insulting messages attacking Carroll, the trial and the judge, whom he called “an extremely abusive individual.”

    “We were stripped of every defense — every single defense — before we walked in there,” said Trump’s lawyer Alina Habba outside the court. “I am proud to stand with president Trump… We will immediately appeal.”

    Trump, 77, briefly took the stand on Thursday to deny he instructed anyone to harm Carroll with his statements.

    – Claims of witch hunt –

    During Trump’s testimony, Kaplan limited him to three questions from his lawyers, to which he could only answer yes or no — a precaution taken to prevent the Republican leader from returning to his custom of disparaging the court or Carroll in public.

    “This is not America,” Trump said as he left the courtroom following his short appearance.

    He was not required to attend the trial or to testify. However, he has used the case, as well as others he faces, to generate heated media coverage and to fuel his claims of being victimized as he campaigns for a return to the White House in November’s election.

    Trump separately faces multiple criminal cases, including his alleged attempt to overthrow the results of the 2020 presidential election, which he lost to Joe Biden, and a civil business fraud case.

    Habba sought to have the case thrown out Thursday on the grounds that threatening messages targeting Carroll, which have been aired in the case, began on social media before Trump’s 2019 comments. Her request was denied.

    Jurors were shown Trump’s October 2022 deposition during which he confused a picture of Carroll for his former wife Marla Maples, which threatened to cast doubt on his claim Carroll was not his “type.”

    Last year, another federal jury found Trump liable for sexually assaulting Carroll in a department store dressing room in 1996 and subsequently defaming her in 2022, when he called her a “complete con job.”

    Trump had been in court while he campaigned ahead of the New Hampshire primary, which he won handily over his only remaining challenger Nikki Haley, as he closes in on becoming the Republican candidate in the November election against Biden.

  • Donald Trump, former US President, is a convicted sex-offender now

    Donald Trump, former US President, is a convicted sex-offender now

    Former US President Donald Trump has been found guilty of sexually abusing E. Jean Carroll by a federal Manhattan jury.

    The jury has awarded Carroll $5 million in damages.

    Carroll had alleged that Trump had raped her in the dressing room of a luxury department store in the spring of 1996. She had also claimed defamation after Trump publicly denied assaulting her, called her “not his type” and accused her of fabricating the story to push sales of her book.

    The former President has denied all wrongdoing. He will not face jail time as a result of the civil suite.

    The jury found that Trump had sexually abused her, however, Carroll could not convince the jury that she had been raped.

    Trump did not attend court proceedings as defendants are allowed to skip hearings if the case is a civil suit.

    Immediately after the verdict, Carroll called the verdict a victory for her and for other victims of sexual abuse.

    Roberta Kaplan, Carroll’s lead attorney, released a statement that said, “No one is above the law, not even a US President.”

  • Reham Khan loses defamation case to Zulfi Bukhari, pays £50,000

    Prime Minister Imran Khan’s former wife Reham Khan has lost to former Special Assistant Sayed Zulfi Bukhari in a defamation case and has reportedly paid £50,000 as a contribution towards Bukhari’s costs and damages, reported Murtaza Ali Shah for Geo News.

    In a statement attached with the court order, which she agreed to publish, Reham withdrew all allegations and rendered a full and unconditional apology.

    Khan posted her apology on Twitter, in which she wrote, “On 6 and 7 December 2019, I published a video on my YouTube Channel, my Facebook page, and on my Twitter account in which I asserted that Sayed Zulfikar Abbas Bukhari, more commonly known as Zulfi Bukhari, was involved in a corrupt plan with the Prime Minister of Pakistan to sell or acquire the Roosevelt Hotel in New York at an undervalue for his benefit.”

    “These allegations were false and untrue. Zulfi Bukhari, as I now understand, was not involved in any corrupt plan PM Khan to sell or acquire the Roosevelt,” she added.

    https://twitter.com/RehamKhan1/status/1448797012728688644?s=20

    Reham also posted her apology video on her youtube channel.

    https://youtu.be/_1ecyzzXcmc

    Zulfi, in a tweet, while reacting to Reham’s video said, “TRUTH ALWAYS WINS!”

    In the settlement agreed between the two parties, Reham agreed that she will tweet the apology and clarification and pin it to her Twitter account for at least three consecutive days.

    Reacting to the development, Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry said, “Reham being a liar was proved once again. She is actually a habitual liar.”

  • PM Imran Khan summoned by Lahore court in Shehbaz Sharif’s defamation case

    PM Imran Khan summoned by Lahore court in Shehbaz Sharif’s defamation case

    A Sessions Court in Lahore summoned Prime Minister Imran Khan over a defamation lawsuit filed by the Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly, Shehbaz Sharif.

    Additional District and Sessions Judge Mudassar Farid Khokhar fixed October 6 for the appearance of the parties personally or through their counsel for further proceedings in the suit filed in 2017.

    Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) president has claimed in his petition that the premier has “falsely accused him of offering money to him to stay silent in the Panama Papers case.”

    Sharif’s petition pleads that the baseless and defamatory statements by PM Khan, which were widely circulated by the media, lowered the integrity of Shehbaz and caused him extreme mental torture, agony, and anxiety. The court has been requested to issue a decree for recovery of Rs 10 billion as compensation for the publication of defamatory content in favour of the plaintiff.

    “PM Imran Khan’s allegation damaged my reputation,” stated Shehbaz in the petition.

    In his written statement, Prime Minister Khan states that one of his friends told him that someone known to him and also the Sharif family approached him with an offer to pay billions of rupees if he could convince him (Khan) to stop pursuing the Panama case.

    “Just imagine how much money he offered me to be silent — Rs10 billion! If he can offer me this much money, just imagine how much he could offer to others. That is why if we don’t maintain public pressure on this issue, then after two months it will be dragged to the next year,” Khan had claimed.

    In an interview televised following the statement, Khan had refused to reveal the name of the person who made the offer but did state that this person was close to the then Punjab chief minister.

  • Veena Malik sues ex-husband for Rs 1 billion for running ‘smear campaign’ against her

    Veena Malik has filed an Rs1 billion defamation suit against ex-husband Asad Khattak for running a “smear campaign against her” which has damaged her reputation. The suit was filed under Defamation Ordinance 2002 in the Session Court through advocate Anjum Hameed.

    According to Malik, Khattak is involved in “propaganda against her reputation which is causing her loss of goodwill, loss to business opportunities and mental torture.”

    On January 5, Asad arrived in Pakistan to obtain custody of his children, who he claims have been kidnapped by his former wife. Asad claimed that he has evidence to prove that Veena has kidnapped his children from the UAE. Addressing a press conference in Peshawar, Asad had said that Veena abducted their children from Dubai and that Pakistan’s consulate general in Dubai was involved in the kidnapping.

    Asad further added that Veena threatens him by claiming she has state institutions on her back.

    Meanwhile, earlier in November, Veena had sent a legal notice worth Rs500 million to Khattak. According to details, the legal notice was sent by the actor a few days after an audio clip started doing the rounds on the internet in which Malik allegedly threatened her former husband Khattak. In the notice, Veena alleged that Khattak is “deliberately trying to defame” her and that she had lawfully brought her children to Pakistan.

  • PCB’s legal advisor sues Shoaib Akhtar for defamation

    PCB’s legal advisor sues Shoaib Akhtar for defamation

    Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) legal advisor Tafazzul Rizvi has filed a Rs10 million defamation lawsuit against former fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar for calling him “an inept person of the highest order,” “do takkay ka lawyer” along with other allegations.

    Akhtar, in a video posted to his YouTube channel, had strongly criticised the Board and its legal team, especially Rizvi, and had accused him of profiteering by creating protracted legal disputes between the Board and its players.

    Speaking on the matter, Rizvi said, “Shoaib Akhtar’s comments have affected my goodwill. He said false things about me on social media. His remarks were seen and heard abroad as well which is why I decided to take legal action against him.”

    The PCB advisor further said that he will take action against Akhtar outside of Pakistan and that he has also “submitted a criminal complaint to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) under the cybercrime act.”

    Akhtar, while discussing the three-year ban on Umar Akmal on his YouTube channel, had accused PCB and its legal team of giving cover to corrupt cricketers of their choice but “feeding other out-of-favours ones to the lions.” He said that this had enabled the menace of match-fixing.

    “The Board has given cover to, saved and rehabilitated match-fixers, which has developed this mindset that ‘Okay I will serve my six-month or two years ban but will be back again like Sharjeel Khan’,” Akhtar said in the video.

    Akhtar asserted that formal laws need to be put in place to curb corruption in the sport. He also suggested that the issue of match-fixing and the treatment of guilty cricketers should be taken out of the Board’s hands.

    “The PCB’s legal department is rotten to the core,” remarked Akhtar. “Tafazzul Rizvi, in particular, is one such individual. He has deep connections and has been with the board for 10-15 years. There has never been a case that he has not lost. What irked me the most was when he dragged Shahid Afridi through the courts.”

    Meanwhile, PCB has said that while they are not backing the legal notice as yet, they are disappointed with Akhtar’s disrespectful outburst.

    “The PCB is disappointed with Shoaib Akhtar’s poor choice of words while publically commenting about the PCB’s legal department and its legal advisor,” said the board in a press release. “The language used by Shoaib Akhtar was highly inappropriate and disrespectful, and cannot be condoned in any civilised society. The PCB’s legal advisor, Mr Taffazul Rizvi, in his own discretion, has initiated defamation and criminal proceedings against Shoaib Akhtar, while the PCB too reserves its rights.”

  • ‘Defamation’: Shehbaz moves London court against British journalist

    ‘Defamation’: Shehbaz moves London court against British journalist

    PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif has filed a defamation case in the London High Court against UK journalist David Rose and Daily Mail & General Trust (DMGT) – publishers of the Mail Online and Mail on Sunday for carrying “utterly false allegations” against him.

    According to a report in The News, Shehbaz’s lawyers, Alasdair Pepper and Antonia Foster shared the details of the defamation suit in a press conference at their office. The former chief minister of Punjab was also present.

    Pepper revealed that the defamation claim has been filed at the London High Court’s Queen’s Bench Division against the defendants DMGT and David Rose, author of the story. The case will go to a trial before a judge at the Royal Court of Justice in under a year as the minimum time to get a trial date is between nine months to a year.

    The lawyer elaborated they decided to approach the court after failing to get a substantive response from the newspaper in several months, despite repeated requests.

    He said that the article, which alleged that Sharif misappropriated UK taxpayers’ money in the form of DFID aid intended for the victims of the 2005 earthquake in Pakistan, and the author’s “social media campaign” was “gravely defamatory” of Sharif.

    He asserted that DFID denied the allegations and labelled the claims as false proving that their client was not involved. The lawyer added that the article was part of a “politically motivated campaign” against the PML-N leader and that Sharif is renowned for his professional and personal ethics.

    In a statement, a DFID spokesperson had said, “The UK’s financial support to ERRA over this period was for payment by results – which means we only gave money once the agreed work, which was primarily focused on building schools, was completed, and the work audited and verified.”

    Speaking at the press conference, Shehbaz said that he was determined to prove that the allegations against him were false, baseless and politically motivated to malign him, adding that it was clear that Rose was used by the PTI government as they granted him “exclusive access to some of the tempered results of a high-level probe ordered by Khan” including a “confidential investigation report” and unusual access to interview “key witnesses” held on remand in jail.

    The Daily Mail UK report, published on July 14, 2019, claimed that the paper was given exclusive access to some of the results of a high-level probe ordered by the government of Pakistan and it was also able to interview key witnesses held on remand.

    One of the witnesses had claimed that he laundered millions on behalf of Shehbaz’s family from a nondescript office in Birmingham without attracting suspicion from Britain’s financial regulators.

    The paper had also alleged that Shehbaz and his family were embezzling tens of millions of pounds of public money and laundering it in Britain.

    Shehbaz had served a first legal notice to the newspaper on July 26, alleging that David Rose’s report was “politically motivated”.

    Despite this, Rose had on multiple occasions thrown shade at Sharif for taking no action.