Far Left British Rag 'The Guardian' Sued For Defaming Iraqi Prime Minister

The Iraqi government has sued the far left British Guardian newspaper for defaming Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki in a recent article. The court ordered The Guardian to pay Maliki $86,000 for the April article.
France News 24 reported:

A British newspaper has been ordered to pay Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki financial compensation for describing him as increasingly autocratic in an article, the paper said Wednesday.

An Iraqi court upheld a complaint of defamation against the prime minister and ordered the Guardian pay him 100 million dinar (52,000 pounds, 86,000 dollars), the newspaper said.

The court supported a complaint by Maliki’s intelligence service against the newspaper over the article written in April by a local Iraqi reporter.

The article quoted unnamed members of the Iraqi national intelligence service who claimed that the prime minister was beginning to run Iraqi affairs with an authoritarian hand.

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband told the Guardian: “I was very concerned to hear reports of today’s court ruling. Media freedom is vital in any democracy.”

The Guardian said it would appeal the decision, which it described as a further blow to free speech in the war-torn country.

#1 November 11, 2009 at 7:28 am
sodtheguardian commented:

Much as I hate the Guardian–and I do–this is absolutely wrong. The UK has terrible libel laws. (Of course, I would think it wronger if that rotten rag actually provided balanced news to its readers as a public service in the interests of assuring an informed voting populace…)
#2 November 11, 2009 at 8:53 am
myna commented:

I guess, unnamed source does not work anymore, heh? If Guardian cannot name that unnamed source, time to coughed up that money.
#3 November 11, 2009 at 9:02 am
xyz commented:

The problem is the libel law in the UK. This may be the spur to get rid of it. A US author wrote a book about the Saudis, published it in the US, and got a libel judgment against her in the UK for “libeling” the Saudis.

#5 November 11, 2009 at 10:57 am
Joanne commented:

Wow, ‘autocratic’; he must have blown a fuse over that one. I would say the guy is thin-skinned, but this doesn’t have anything to do with that. It is all about power and control. I guess controlling the media in another country is quite a thrill for this guy.
#6 November 11, 2009 at 12:26 pm
bg commented:

++

THEY LIE!!

MNF (thumbsup)

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