UK Publishing House Pluto Press and author Michael Griffin have agreed to pay substantial libel damages to Saudi businessman Sheikh Khalid Bin Mahfouz for suggesting that he funded attacks carried out by Osama Bin Laden's Al-Qaeda Network.
The parties have agreed that the amount of damages being paid and contribution to costs being made by Pluto Press and Griffin is to be kept confidential, reported a press release.
Sheikh Khalid, former Chairman of Saudi Arabia's National Commercial Bank (NCB) and Nimir Petroleum, has accepted damages and a comprehensive apology from Griffin and the publisher in settlement of a libel action following the publication of a revised edition of the book Reaping the Whirlwind, it was announced March 15 in the High Court in London.
Sheikh Khalid commenced libel proceedings against Pluto Press and Griffin following the publication of the book in 2001, which alleged that he had funded Al-Qaeda activities. He was accused of being dismissed from NCB because his ties to the extremist group and stripped of his Saudi passport and confined to a military hospital by the Saudi authorities.
It was also alleged that Nimir Petroleum was owned by a financial supporter of Osama Bin Laden and was a party to negotiations with the Taliban in connection with an oil pipeline to be built across Afghanistan.
In yesterday’s hearing at the High Court before Justice Eady, the publisher and author accepted that there was no truth whatsoever in any of these allegations. They acknowledged that Sheikh Khalid had no connection whatsoever with Osama Bin Laden or the supporting or funding of terrorist activities, left NCB only for health reasons and was not stripped of his passport or confined to a military hospital. They also accepted that Nimir Petroleum was not owned by a supporter of terrorism and was not involved in any Afghan pipeline project and has never had any dealings with the Taliban regime.
Sincerely apologizing for any distress and embarrassment that these false statements caused to Sheikh Khalid and his family, Pluto Press and Griffin confirmed that they had agreed to destroy all unsold copies of the book, to undertake not to repeat the allegations, and to publish an apology on in the Bookseller magazine, the British Institute of Middle East Studies Newsletter and the Pluto Press website. The publisher and author are paying substantial damages as well as paying Sheikh Khalid’s and Nimir’s legal costs.
Sheikh Khalid's solicitors announced that he has agreed to donate the damages paid by the publisher and author to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). The Saudi businessman is the second son of Salem Bin Mahfouz, the founder of NCB. When Salem died in 1994, Sheikh Khalid inherited his father's holding in NCB. Nimir Petroleum, an oil exploration company with its registered office in London, is owned by Sheikh Khalid's sons.
Following a similar recent settlement involving the UK's Mail on Sunday newspaper, Sheikh Khalid is continuing to pursue libel proceedings in London against the author Jean Charles Brisard in relation to a book published by him and Guillaume Dasquié making similar allegations. — (menareport.com)
© 2004 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
