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Media Coverage |
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U.S. Libel Tourism Protection Act Signed into Law, British Activists See Call for Reform (2010-08-27) Sydney Smith StinkyJournalism.org In mid-August, President Barack Obama signed into law the SPEECH Act. The new law, quickly passed by the House of Representatives and Senate, prevents foreign libel judgments from being upheld in the U.S. if the ruling would conflict More >> |
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Protection against libel actions overseas (2010-08-16) Katy Clark PRI's The World Anchor Katy Clark speaks with writer Rachel Ehrenfeld about a new US law that protects US authors found guilty of libel in overseas courts. |
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Obama's Curious Silence (2010-08-13) J. Millard Burr American Thinker On August 10, President Obama signed into law HR2765 entitled "Securing the Protection of our Enduring and Established Constitutional Heritage Act." This Act received unanimous approval in both the House and the Senate. In the latter case, before being sent to the President for signature, it received the unanimous and bipartisan support of members of the Senate More >> |
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Shutting the Door on 'libel tourists' (2010-08-13) Washington Post Editorial Washington Post ACCORDING TO the libel laws of some nations, even the truth is no defense. In 1959, Liberace sued London's Daily Mirror for libel after one of its columnists referred to him as "fruit-flavoured" -- and won. ("I cried," he said, "all the way to the bank.") In many countries, libel suits can chill speech or bankrupt independent authors and small publications -- More >> |
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She Fought the System and Won (2010-08-11) Natgeda Remy Levine Breaking News After a hard-fought battle to ensure the protection of American authors and publishers from extortionate foreign libel judgments, one New York-based scholar and researcher has secured the passage of the first law to achieve unanimous Congressional support this term. Initated and promoted by Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld, the Securing the Protection of our Enduring and Established Constitutional More >> |
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New Law Protects Free Speech from Foreign Courts (2010-08-05) Nicholas Zifcak Epoch Times Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld, an American author who pushed for legislation to protect free speech in America from foreign libel lawsuits. (Courtesy Rachel Ehrenfeld, American Center for Democracy) |
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Protecting American Free Speech
(2010-08-03) Senators Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) The Hill's Congress Blog Although Washington is often mired in partisan political battles, there are some issues on which Democrats and Republicans in Congress can agree — and where they can work together in unison. One of these is our nation’s tradition of freedom of speech. Thanks to strong, bipartisan cooperation, an important bill to protect free speech is now set to become law. The SPEECH Act More >> |
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Editorial: English Libel Law (2010-08-02) N/A Financial Times England’s libel law is supposed to protect reputations. But its own good name is taking a terrible battering. Already under attack from British campaigners who argue that it unduly suppresses free speech, it took a blow in the US last week. The House of Representatives passed a bill declaring English libel judgments to be unenforceable in the US courts. True, this was largely More >> |
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Congress Unites to Pass Bill Protecting American Authors and Publishers (2010-08-02) Aylana Meisel Cutting Edge Lightning struck at Congress for a second time last week, when the House of Representatives unanimously passed HR 2765, the Securing and Protecting our Enduring and Established Constitutional Heritage Act (SPEECH Act). The Act, which had been approved unanimously by the Senate the week before, is now a presidential pen stroke away from enactment. The Act is designed to ameliorate the More >> |
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Bill takes on 'libel tourism' (2010-07-30) Ted Johnson Variety U.S. legislation limits suits on 1st Amendment grounds "Libel tourism" sounds like it refers to something like an egregious defamation of the Queen Mary II, but in the eyes of Congress, it is a First Amendment threat. |
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US law to counter 'libel tourism' in British courts (2010-07-28) Alex Spillius Telegraph - UK The move came after years of bewilderment with what are regarded asdraconian UK libel laws that saw a string of cases being heard which would never have been brought in the US. Many involved celebrities or foreigners suing American publications and books whose content was viewed by a relatively small number of people in Britain. Supporters of the Securing the Protection of our Enduring More >> |
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Federal Law opposing 'libel tourism' approved by Congress (2010-07-28) Rachel Ehrenfeld sdjewishworld NEW YORK-As the founder of the movement against libel tourism, I congratulate Congress for unanimously passing HR 2765 (as amended by the Leahy-Sessions 'Speech' Act) on July 27th. A bipartisan bill, the 'Speech' Act is based on New York State's "Libel Terrorism Protection Act" (also known as "Rachel's Law"). The 'Speech' Act marks the culmination of a national campaign I spearheaded More >> |
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Media on the Edge: Senate Moves Unanimously to Protect Free Speech (2010-07-26) Aylana Meisel The Cutting Edge News In a rare show of unanimity, the United States Senate approved legislation last week that would prevent the domestic enforcement of foreign libel judgments that do not meet American standards of due process and free speech protection. The Securing the Protection of our Enduring and Established Constitutional Heritage Act, or SPEECH Act (S. 3518 ) was introduced by Senators Patrick Leahy More >> |
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Limiting 'libel tourism' (2010-07-24) latimes.com LATimes.com It's called "libel tourism" — the practice of bringing a defamation lawsuit against an author or publisher in a country with less robust protections of free speech than those afforded Americans by the 1st Amendment and Supreme Court decisions. Many Americans may be surprised to learn that a leading destination for libel tourists is the United Kingdom. The United States can't prevent More >> |
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A Victory for Writing (2010-07-23) New York Times Editorial New York Times It is a rare achievement these days for the Senate to pass anything of real substance by a unanimous vote. But an important bill that protects Americans from the whims of foreign libel judgments was passed earlier this week by unanimous consent. Once it passes the House and is signed into law, it will provide a safeguard to authors and publishers threatened with ruinous foreign judgments. More >> |
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SPEECH Act Passes U.S. Senate by Unanimous Consent (2010-07-20) American Center for Democracy Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld, author of Funding Evil: How Terrorism is Financed - and How to Stop It, and founder of the movement against libel tourism, praised the United States Senate for passing the Securing the Protection of our Enduring and Established Constitutional Heritage Act, HR 2765 (as amended by the Leahy-Sessions SPEECH Act) by unanimous consent yesterday. The bill More >> |
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Protecting Our Freedom of Speech: The SPEECH Act Now Before the Senate (2010-07-13) Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld BIGPEACE.COM As an American citizen who has spent seven years fighting against and promoting awareness of the threat of libel tourism to American free speech rights, I am writing in support of the S 3518, the "Securing the Protection of our Enduring and Established Constitutional Heritage Act," or the "SPEECH Act," now before the Senate Judiciary Committee. The SPEECH Act marks More >> |
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Pass the 'Speech' Act Now (2010-07-13) Daniel J. Kornstein New York Law Journal Like resistant new strains of virus or bacteria, new threats to free expression in the U.S. appear from time to time. One such new threat is foreign libel litigation. In recent years, American writers and publishers have increasingly found themselves named as defendants in libel suits in countries lacking our First Amendment protections. Read the full article with the link above (PDF More >> |
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Libel Tourism: Dealing with Foreign libel judgements is no vacation for American journalists (2010-06-29) Cristina Abello The News Media and the Law When the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing in February with the provacative title: "Are Foreign Libel Lawsuits Chilling Americans' First Amendment Rights?" the answer of the attorneys testifying - veteran media lawyers Kurt Wimmer and Bruce D. Brown - was an unequivocal 'yes.' Read the full article with the link above (PDF ~2M). |
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The SPEECH Act Nears Closer to Reality (2010-06-28) Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld The Cutting Edge News BP CEO Tony Hayward will likely win his case if he decides to sue American reporters and media outlets for libel in England for exposing his participation in a yacht race off the British Isle of Wight in the midst of the oil spill caused by his company in the Gulf of Mexico. You see, unlike the protections of free expression guaranteed by the American First Amendment, the plaintiff-friendly More >> |
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SPEECH Act Passes Senate Judiciary Committee (2010-06-23) Rachel Ehrenfeld Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld, Founder of the Movement Against Libel Tourism, Lauds Senate Leadership for Moving on Bipartisan Bill Act will protect Americans’ free speech rights and guard against the enforcement of foreign libel judgments in the U.S. New York, NY- June 24, 2010: Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld, author of Funding Evil: How Terrorism is Financed - and How to Stop It, and More >> |
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Statement Of Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Chairman, Senate Judiciary Committee, On Introduction Of The Securing The Protection Of Our Enduring And Established Constitutional Heritage (“SPEECH”) Act (2010-06-22) Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) Two years ago the United Nations’ Human Rights Committee observed a problem that “discourage[d] critical media reporting on matters of serious public interest, adversely affect[ed] the ability of scholars and journalists to publish their work,” and “affect[ed] freedom of expression worldwide on matters of valid public interest.” That problem was “libel tourism,” a troubling trend of foreign More >> |
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Leahy, Sessions Introduce Bill To Prevent Foreign Defamation Judgments (2010-06-22) Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) WASHINGTON (Tuesday, June 22, 2010) – The top Democrat and Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee today introduced legislation to shield American authors, journalists and publishers from foreign libel lawsuits that would otherwise curb writers’ First Amendment rights. Senators Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) introduced the Securing the Protection of our Enduring and More >> |
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A Legal Thriller in London (2010-05-28) Rachel Ehrenfeld Newsweek As the old adage goes, books have a life of their own. I learned this firsthand after publishing my third one, Funding Evil |
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Abroad, any US citizen is liable to get sued for libel (2010-05-22) Floyd Abrams The Boston Globe IMAGINE THAT you, an American citizen, were asked for your views about a prominent American public figure by a California website. You responded and found yourself sued for libel by your fellow citizen not in the United States but in England and judged under a legal regime that not only does not recognize the First Amendment but whose judges trumpet their disdain for it. Or imagine that More >> |
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Libel on tour (2010-04-28) James Gill Nola.com Within minutes Monday a legislative committee repudiated both Islamic and British law. Neither, perhaps, represents an immediate threat to justice in Louisiana, but it was not entirely an alarmist and xenophobic stunt when the committee approved two bills by Rep. Ernest Wooton, R-Belle Chase. Mostly, but not entirely. One of Wooton's bills, which provides that no foreign law shall be More >> |
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Free Speech Loophole Threatens American Writers (2010-03-15) Rachel Ehrenfeld Pajamas Media A libel judgment from a foreign court where speech protections are lacking could be enforced in this country unless legislation protecting authors moves through Congress. The apology by the Danish newspaper Politiken for publishing the “Mohammed cartoons” — 12 cartoons of a turban-wearing bearded man with a bomb which were released in 2005 — comes as no surprise. In 2006, a More >> |
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Libel law: Agog at the gag (2010-03-02) Michael Peel Financial Times FT.com Protesters outside the offices of Carter-Ruck, the London law firm that last year obtained a superinjunction for Trafigura, an oil trading company When Peter Carter-Ruck, Britain’s most famous libel lawyer, died in 2003, it was as if an era had ended. He “had a chilling effect on the media”, David Hooper, a former partner in his firm, wrote in The Guardian. “He was a chancer, More >> |
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America must defend its writers (2010-03-01) Rachel Ehrenfeld The Guardian, UK A bill in Congress is aiming to protect US-based authors from overseas libel judgments, not change British laws The US Senate judiciary committee recently concluded that "foreign libel lawsuits are chilling Americans' first amendment rights http://judiciary.senate.gov/hearings/hearing.cfm?id=4414 ", during a hearing on the Free Speech Protection Act More >> |
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EHRENFELD: Ending British abridgement of free expression (2010-03-01) Rachel Ehrenfeld The Washington Times Americans deserve immunity from 'libel tourism' The Senate Judiciary Committee recently concluded during a hearing on the Free Speech Protection Act (S.449) on Feb. 23 that "foreign libel lawsuits are chilling Americans' First Amendment rights." The Free Speech Protection Act provides protection to all U.S.-based authors and publishers from libel judgments in any country that has More >> |
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Foreign-based lawsuits prompt England to rethink libel laws (2010-02-24) Karla Adam Washington Post LONDON -- Amid growing concerns that England's tough libel laws stifle free speech, a parliamentary committee on Wednesday will recommend broad changes that would make it harder to bring lawsuits and prevent foreigners from using English courts for defamation cases. Over the years, England has attracted waves of aggrieved plaintiffs, from U.S. celebrities to Ukrainian businessmen, who have More >> |
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Leahy-Chaired Panel Holds Hearing On Libel Tourism And The Growing Threat To American Journalists (2010-02-23) BigNews.biz The Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing to examine libel tourism, a growing threat to American journalists’ First Amendment rights. Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) presided at the hearing. Permissive libel laws in other countries have resulted in foreign law suits against American journalists, publishers and authors. A widely-publicized case in Britain in which an American More >> |
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Senate committee debates libel tourism law (2010-02-23) Cristina Abello The Reporters Committee For Freedom of the Press The Senate Judiciary Committee in a hearing Tuesday morning voiced support for legislation that would attempt to deter foreign libel lawsuits against American authors and publishers but left the door open to further negotiation about specific legislative action. Because other countries do not have the strong speech protections of the First Amendment, libel plaintiffs often file suit abroad to More >> |
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Statement, Hearing On "Are Foreign Libel Lawsuits Chilling Americans' First Amendment Rights?" (2010-02-23) The Honorable Patrick Leahy Senate Judiciary Committee Statement of Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Chairman, Senate Judiciary Committee, Hearing On "Are Foreign Libel Lawsuits Chilling Americans' First Amendment Rights?" February 23, 2010 Today's hearing focuses on how lawsuits brought against American reporters and publishers in foreign courts are affecting our First Amendment rights. When the Supreme Court issued its landmark ruling More >> |
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Law would shield Arizonans from foreign libel suits (2010-02-18) Howard Fischer AZCentral.com Arizona State lawmakers are moving to give Arizonans, including the media, protections against being sued for libel in other countries. Legislation making its way through the Senate would prohibit Arizona courts from recognizing a defamation judgment issued by a court in another nation unless that country had free speech and press protections like those in the U.S. and Arizona Constitutions... More >> |
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Libel tourists will love the tales of Lord Hoffmann (2010-02-07) Nick Cohen The Guardian, UK If you want to see hypocrisy in action, look at England's libel courts. I warned during the rage against Blair and Bush that liberals were playing into the hands of reactionaries. Unintentionally or not, their depiction of a desire to democratise the Middle East as a neocon swindle provided every apologist for tyranny and censorship with the argument that liberty was a merely a plot by a More >> |
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Let battle commence over privacy (2010-02-06) John Kampfner The Independent, London John Terry's is only the latest attempt to suppress free speech for financial reasons This was the week that the legal establishment bit back. For three months since Index on Censorship published its Libel Reform campaign in coalition with like-minded organisations, we've had pretty much an open field. The evidence we have brought to bear has been compelling. Libel tourism - in which More >> |
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Let battle commence over privacy (2010-02-06) John Kampfner The Independent, London John Terry's is only the latest attempt to suppress free speech for financial reasons This was the week that the legal establishment bit back. For three months since Index on Censorship published its Libel Reform campaign in coalition with like-minded organisations, we've had pretty much an open field. The evidence we have brought to bear has been compelling. Libel tourism - in which More >> |
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Taking away the welcome mat (2009-12-30) From The Economist print edition The Economist Overdue reforms may be on the way MOST tourists come to Britain for the palaces, the pubs and the history. But a few come to take advantage of England’s ferociously claimant-friendly libel laws (Scotland’s are different). A string of cases in which plaintiffs with tenuous links to England have taken advantage of these rules has fuelled worries about legal “forum More >> |
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Supreme Court Ruling Establishes New Libel Protection (2009-12-24) Dan Verbin ShalomLife, Ontario In a far-reaching ruling, the Supreme Court of Canada gave its blessing to a new defense against libel that applies to journalists responsibly reporting on stories deemed to be of public interest. The decision is being hailed by free speech advocates as a milestone victory for press freedom in Canada, a country with strict libel laws as compared to countries such as the United States. “It More >> |
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The British Threat to American Free Speech (2009-12-20) Rachel Ehrenfeld Wall Street Journal The U.S. Congress is considering legislation to protect American writers from the threat of suppressive libel lawsuits in the U.K. The recent movement to change British libel laws to allow for greater freedom of expression has its origins in New York City and New York State. I am a New York-based scholar specializing in research on terror financing and economic warfare. In my book, More >> |
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‘A Town Called Sue’: England Weighing Changes to Libel Law (2009-12-11) Ashby Jones Wall Street Journal This term “libel tourism” has been kicking around for some time now. It refers to the practice of filing libel suits not necessarily in one’s home country, but in jurisdictions in which the laws on libel are more plaintiff friendly. For years, the preferred destination for such tourism has been jolly old England, where the libel laws are decidedly different than they are in the U.S. (Partly More >> |
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Saudi Billionaire’s Libel Legacy (2009-12-11) True/Slant Have you heard? England may be shutting itself to tourists. Not the camera-toting, Big Ben-gawking, bus-riding sort of course, but a different, more controversial subset of regular visitors ignominiously labeled “libel tourists.” Lured by London’s archaic libel law- where the burden of proof rests on the defendant- non-British citizens have flooded local courts with lawsuits. A celebrity More >> |
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Britain, Long a Libel Mecca, Reviews Laws (2009-12-10) Sarah Lyall New York Times LONDON — England has long been a mecca for aggrieved people from around the world who want to sue for libel. Russian oligarchs, Saudi businessmen, multinational corporations, American celebrities — all have made their way to London’s courts, where jurisdiction is easy to obtain and libel laws are heavily weighted in favor of complainants. Embarrassed by London’s reputation as “a town called More >> |
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Could London lose 'libel capital of the world' crown? (2009-12-05) Alice Ritchie (AFP) Google News LONDON — The world's rich and powerful have long chosen London to defend their interests in court, but pressure is mounting for an overhaul in the English laws that saw it named "libel capital of the world". Lawyers, freedom of speech campaigners and even members of the government are questioning whether legislation designed to protect people's reputations is now being used to silence More >> |
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Stop allowing England's libel courts to be used by the rich and powerful to stifle free speech (2009-12-01) Jonathan Heawood Progress Magazine - UK They call it the ‘small penis' rule. Faced with the risk of libel actions, novelists endow any objectionable male character with a remarkably small penis. What man would claim in court that such a character was based on him? This strategy is all very well for novelists, but it doesn't help the journalists, publishers, non-fiction writers, bloggers and NGOs for whom libel law is no joke. They More >> |
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Don’t make libel law ‘fairer’. Make it history (2009-11-25) Nathalie Rothschild Spiked-Online If we are serious about defending freedom of speech, then English libel should be sentenced to death. A pledge to end ‘libel tourism’; an admission that the English libel laws are having ‘chilling effects’ on free speech; a promise to introduce wholesale libel reform in the name of protecting open debate… UK justice secretary Jack Straw’s pledges, made at the weekend in response to a More >> |
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It's official - London is the libel capital of the world (2009-11-24) Frances Gibb, Legal editor TimesOnline, UK Libel tourism is flourishing and London is the hottest destination. Its reputation as libel capital of the world has just been confirmed by figures that show that the number of defamation actions started last year was the highest for five years. The number of cases lodged in the High Court jumped to 259 in 2008 — the biggest number since 2004 and up by 11 per cent on 2007. Jaron Lewis, a More >> |
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Jack Straw pledges action to end libel tourism (2009-11-22) Isabel Oakeshott and Steven Swinford The Sunday Times, UK JACK STRAW is preparing to draw up proposals for wholesale reform of England’s libel laws, after a long-running Sunday Times campaign. The justice secretary says the large legal fees involved in defamation cases in English courts are jeopardising freedom of speech, potentially curbing vital debate by scientists, academics and journalists. The huge payouts awarded to individuals who More >> |
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Congress: Protect American Writers and Publishers from Being Sued Overseas (2009-11-18) Judy Platt, Association of American Publishers The Huffington Post Picture this scenario: you're an American author who's written a well-researched, well-documented book on a topic of broad public interest. Your book's been published in the United States for an American audience. Someone who's mentioned in the book doesn't like what you've written and sues you for libel, but he doesn't sue you here, where the book has been published. He doesn't sue you where you More >> |
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Free Speech Protection Act could slow 'libel tourism' (2009-11-16) Robert Mahoney/Deputy Director CPJ Press Freedom Online - New York, NY, USA Free press advocates in Britain are looking to a bill stuck in the U.S. Congress for moral support in the fight to reform England’s draconian defamation laws. The U.S. bill, the Free Speech Protection Act 2009, is itself the product of those laws, which have made London the capital of “libel tourism.” A prime backer of the legislation now before the Senate Judiciary Committee is U.S. More >> |
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Rotten laws that strangle free speech (2009-11-15) Comment, Leading Articles The Sunday Times, UK Imagine a country in which citizens are barred from reading American newspapers and books and from accessing international websites. Scientists and writers are hauled before the courts and threatened with massive damages even if their supposed crime was committed elsewhere and even if they were expressing legitimate views. It sounds like a repressive totalitarian regime but it is modern-day More >> |
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The laws that stain Britain’s good name (2009-11-10) John Kampfner TimesOnline, UK Libel tourism isn’t just a matter for the media elite. Freedom of speech for everyone is in danger. Britain is a pariah state, shunned by its allies and exploited by the unsavoury. The state of English libel laws (Scotland’s provisions are a little better) is so embarrassing that a number of US states have enacted legislation to protect their citizens from our courts. London is the More >> |
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Our libel laws shame us (2009-11-10) Jo Glanville The Guardian, UK The fact that England has become an international centre for libel litigation underlines the need for urgent reform There has never been such momentum for reforming English libel law. The impetus has come, to our shame, from overseas. Neither our own legislators or even our leading media organisations have, until now, seen the need to campaign for reform. The first push for change began More >> |
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Freedom of Speech Under Attack in the U.S. As Well (2009-10-29) Diederik van Hoogstraten de Volkskrant, NL. Dr. Ehrenfeld: Free speech is a constitutional right in the U.S. but foreign libel judgments are threatening it. "Let's protect ourselves." Vrijheid van meningsuiting ook in VS onder vuur ACHTERGROND, Van onze correspondent Diederik van Hoogstraten Gepubliceerd op 29 oktober 2009 22:51, bijgewerkt op 22:55 WASHINGTON - De vrije meningsuiting is in de VS een grondrecht, maar More >> |
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Judge attacks stifling of free speech and 'libel tourism' (2009-10-21) Steve Doughty The Daily Mail, UK Demand: Lord Chief Justice calls for new laws to rein in the powers of judges in libel cases The Lord Chief Justice yesterday delivered a sharp warning to judges not to trespass on the freedoms of Parliament. Lord Judge, who acts as the figurehead for the judiciary, said it was a 'fundamental principle' that the courts should not try to interfere with what MPs do and say. And he More >> |
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How our senior libel judge stamps on free speech – all over the world (2009-10-19) George Monbiot The Guardian, UK Mr Justice Eady's rulings amplify the democratic world's most illiberal laws – enabled by 12 years of utterly feeble leadership Trafigura's super-injunction is weird for lots of reasons. But the strangest fact is this: it has nothing to do with the Honourable Mr Justice Eady. The company's lawyers injuncted the Guardian, injuncted their injunction, and tried to injunct reports of More >> |
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California bans British 'libel tourism' (2009-10-17) Robert Verkaik, Law editor The Independent, London Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Governor of California, has brought in laws to deter celebrities and businessmen travelling to Britain to sue American-based publications in what has become known as libel tourism. The new measures, personally signed off by Mr Schwarzenegger this week, will make judgments won against US magazines and newspapers unenforceable in California. The legislation More >> |
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Libel Tourism Is No Vacation For Americans (2009-10-15) Kevin Mitchell AviationDaily 'The near-perfect reach of the Internet has placed U.S. free speech in harm's way.' PDF>> |
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California the latest state to pass a law opposing British libel judgments (2009-10-15) Roy Greenslade The Guardian The governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, yesterday signed a law that will allow the state's courts to refuse to enforce British libel judgments. It effectively negates the practice of libel tourism. It is symbolic of the growing opposition in the States to Britain's libel laws, which are in conflict with the US constitution's first amendment protecting freedom of speech. The More >> |
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Arnold Schwarzenegger gets tough over libel tourists to the UK (2009-10-15) Mail Foreign Service Daily Mail Online The state of California yesterday banned libel tourism in an effort to resist the influence of British judges. Its governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a law which will allow its courts to refuse to enforce libel judgments handed down in London. He acted following alarm in the U.S. that powerful individuals use British courts to silence criticism and prevent investigation of their More >> |
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Barbra Streisand strikes again (2009-10-15) The Economist Press freedom and the internet: A gagging order backfires THIS week a national newspaper ran a fascinating story about absolutely nothing. The Guardian reported on its front page on October 13th that a question had been tabled by an MP in Parliament, but that the newspaper could not reveal “who has asked the question, what the question is, which minister might answer it, or where the question More >> |
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Al Qaeda Penniless (2009-10-14) Joost Bosman de Gelderlander, the Netherlands Rachel Ehrenfeld comments about AlQaeda's alleged money problems. PDF>> |
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Protect our free speech abroad (2009-10-12) Kevin Mitchell The Reporter Americans are being sued for libel in countries whose laws are inconsistent with free speech granted by the U.S. Constitution. The Free Speech Protection Act of 2009 (S.449) was introduced in February 2009 in response to cases such as that of Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld's, an academic who writes on terrorism. Her 2003 book, "Funding Evil," triggered a lawsuit in the United Kingdom by a Saudi who More >> |
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Free Speech Under Foreign Assault (2009-10-09) Robert Spencer FrontPageMagazine.com Does the United States Constitution protect the freedom of speech of American citizens, or does it not? In this era of globalization, the answer is becoming increasingly muddled. Thursday, an American citizen, Paul Williams, went on trial in Canada. He is charged with violating Canadian libel laws in charges he made in his book The Dunces of Doomsday about a jihad terror cell at McMaster More >> |
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Rescue writers from scourge of libel tourism (2009-10-08) Rachel Ehrenfeld New York Daily News Paul Williams has lived in Pennsylvania all his life. Yet with pretrial proceedings that begin today, Canadian libel laws now threaten to ruin him financially. Williams is a National Book Award-winning writer whose 2006 éxposé, "The Dunces of Doomsday," revealed potential terrorist threats to the United States emanating from McMaster University in Ontario, Canada. Although the book was More >> |
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Rescue writers from scourge of libel tourism (2009-10-08) Rachel Ehrenfeld New York Daily News Paul Williams has lived in Pennsylvania all his life. Yet with pretrial proceedings that begin today, Canadian libel laws now threaten to ruin him financially. Williams is a National Book Award-winning writer whose 2006 éxposé, "The Dunces of Doomsday," revealed potential terrorist threats to the United States emanating from McMaster University in Ontario, Canada. Although the book was More >> |
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Brazil Threatens Americans' Free Speech (2009-09-30) Rachel Ehrenfeld Townhall.com Americans writers' free expression is under attack by foreign courts. In the most recent assault, a Brazilian widow is suing an American reporter in a Brazilian court for allegedly defaming the entire nation of Brazil. She claims Joseph M. Sharkey, a New Jersey - based freelance travel columnist for the New York Times, offended the "dignity" of Brazil by criticizing its incompetent air-traffic More >> |
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You Won't Read All About It (2009-09-29) Nick Cohen Standpoint Magazine  "Contempt of Court" by H.M. Bateman, 1916 October 2009 Readers had to stare hard at the front page of The Times of 7 May 1966 to learn that the most gruesome murder trial of the decade was over. The lead story was a less-than-gripping piece about Roy Jenkins, the then Home Secretary, More >> |
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English libel laws facilitate libel tourism (2009-09-29) Rachel Ehrenfeld Europe News English libel laws dating back to 1849 allow foreigners to sue other foreigners in English courts a practice known as “libel tourism”. in addition, England’s plaintiff-friendly libel law is at loggerheads with American principles of free speech guaranteed by the First Amendment. Libel Tourism is used a weapon to silence foreign publishers and writers in print and on the internet. Moreover, More >> |
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Libel Tourism Deterred (2009-09-17) Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld The American Spectator READER MAIL Libel Tourism Deterred By Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld Director, American Center for Democracy (ACD) LIBEL TOURISM AND THE FIRST AMENDMENT Re: Aaron Eitan Meyer's Islamist Lawfare: The Saudi billionaire and serial "libel tourist" Khalid bin Mahfouz is dead, but libel tourism (the use of foreign courts to sue American writers) continues to threaten Americans free speech More >> |
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'Libel tourism' and free speech (2009-09-14) Rachel Ehrenfeld The Irish Times Madam, – As the only American author who stood up to Khalid bin Mahfouz’s campaign to silence American writers and publishers, I would like to note that the Saudi billionaire did not win his many libel lawsuits in the UK on merit, as your newspaper strongly suggests (World News, September 8th). He won because in addition to his unlimited financial resources, he used the plaintiff- friendly More >> |
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Stop the Silencing of Critics By The Saudis (2009-09-11) Rachel Ehrenfeld de Volkskrant Stop monddood maken door Saoedi's |
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Anti-free speech? UK courts can help (2009-06-20) Robert Sharp The Guardian Libel tourism is rife in our courts – and the UK legal system is becoming utterly discredited abroad as result. While various campaigning groups spring up left, right and centre with the aim of reforming Britain's mangled political system, it seems that our friends abroad have already grown tired of waiting for us to get it right. It is time, they have decided, to take matters into More >> |
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The AAP Pushes for Expansion of "Libel Tourism" Legislation (2009-06-15) Jim Milliot Publishers Weekly The Association of American Publishers sent a letter to Congress last week expressing the association’s concern that current legislation designed to protect authors and publishers against libel tourism “does not go far enough.” According to the letter, the new bill, H.R. 2765, fails to provide publishers and authors with a cause of action to permit them to countersue in American courts. “There More >> |
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Through the Looking Glass (2009-06-15) Floyd Abrams Index on Censorship for Free Expression English libel law turns US protection for free speech on its head. Floyd Abrams considers how the UK became an international libel tribunal English defamation law is under fire. Last July, the United Nations Human Rights Committee expressed “concern” that English libel law had “served to discourage critical media reporting on matters of serious public interest”. Later in the More >> |
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Destination Libel (2009-06-15) Afua Hirsch The Guardian Is the fear of legal action creating a chilling effect for investigative journalism? Campaigners want British laws changed so libel tourists stay away The following correction was printed in the Guardian's Corrections and clarifications column, Tuesday 16 June 2009. John Kampfner is the chief executive of the freedom of expression group Index on Censorship. We mistakenly More >> |
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Through the Looking Glass (2009-06-15) Floyd Abrams Index on Censorship for Free Expression English libel law turns US protection for free speech on its head. Floyd Abrams considers how the UK became an international libe English defamation law is under fire. Last July, the United Nations Human Rights Committee expressed “concern” that English libel law had “served to discourage critical media reporting on matters of serious public interest”. Later in the year, representatives of 30 More >> |
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Association of American Publishers letter to Congress (2009-06-12) Allan R. Adler, Vice President for Government and Legal Affairs Association of American Publishers June 12, 2009 Dear Member of Congress: American book publishers are deeply concerned about the problem of “libel tourism,” and gratified that Congress is finally turning its attention to this serious threat to our First Amendment rights. However, while we look forward to passage of legislation to address the problem, we urge that Congress give proper time and attention to shaping that More >> |
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Protect freedom of information (2009-06-09) Editorial Times-News Online The digital age has made mountains of information available. It should make important reporting more available, too, but because of some recent developments in libel law, that is not necessarily the case. While freedom of the press remains strong in the U.S., where it is guaranteed in the Constitution, it is under fire in other parts of the world. In recent opinion columns, both the Wall More >> |
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The New Presumption of Transparency (2009-06-09) L. Gordon Crovitz Wall Street Journal During the Cold War, the joke went that an American explained to a Russian that, in the U.S., anyone could stand in front of the White House and criticize the president. The Russian shrugged and said anyone could stand at the gates of the Kremlin and criticize the American president, too. We live in a new era, as seen in such varied efforts to suppress information as expense fiddling by More >> |
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U.K. Libel Laws Chill Another American Book (2009-06-08) Rachel Ehrenfeld Forbes Magazine The most recent casualties of Britain's pernicious libel laws are New York-based best-selling author Michael Gross and his intriguing and well-researched book Rogues Gallery: The Secret History of the Moguls and the Money That Made the Metropolitan Museum. It was published in May by Broadway Books, an imprint of Crown, which is owned by Random House. The unauthorized book describes, among More >> |
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UK faces backlash over 'libel tourists' (2009-06-07) Robert Watts The Sunday Times US politicians try to protect citizens from British court, claiming foreigners use law to bring expensive defamation cases American politicians are pushing through free speech laws to protect US citizens from libel rulings in British courts that have been accused of stifling criticism of oligarchs and dictators. The development follows claims that foreigners flock to the UK to More >> |
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Britain Chills Free Speech (2009-06-04) Salil Tripathi Wall Street Journal Libel tourists flock to the U.K. to avoid public scrutiny. Simon Singh is an award-winning British science writer. In the best-selling "Fermat's Enigma," for example, he described the 350-year quest for the proof of Pierre de Fermat's last theorem, which eluded mathematicians until the 1990s. Now his inquiring mind has got him into trouble with U.K. libel laws -- laws that have long More >> |
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The Battle on the Libel Tourism Front (2009-06-01) Jamie Glazov FrontPageMagazine.com Will Congress step to the plate to defend free speech? Today’s guest for Frontpage Interview is Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld, Director of the American Center for Democracy. A Ph.D. in criminology from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem Ehrenfed focuses on the Saudi penetration of and influence on the U.S. economy, and on the economic warfare against the U.S. and the West. She has published hundreds More >> |
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UK faces backlash over 'libel tourists' (2009-06-00) Robert Watts The Sunday Times US politicians try to protect citizens from British court, claiming foreigners use law to bring expensive defamation cases American politicians are pushing through free speech laws to protect US citizens from libel rulings in British courts that have been accused of stifling criticism of oligarchs and dictators. The development follows claims that foreigners flock to the UK to More >> |
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Libel Tourism (2009-05-26) Editorial The New York Times American law, with its strong First Amendment traditions, makes it hard to sue authors for libel. To get around these protections, book subjects have been suing American authors in England, where the libel law is much less writer-friendly. Two states — New York and Illinois — have already adopted laws prohibiting “libel tourism,” and several more, including Florida and California, may soon join More >> |
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Unlikely Allies Say U.K. Libel Laws Limit Speech (2009-05-25) Eric Pfanner New York Times International Herald Tribune (Global Edition) PARIS — The American Civil Liberties Union may not often see eye-to-eye with the American Center for Democracy, a research group with neoconservative credentials. But the two organizations are united on at least one thing: their distaste for British libel laws, which they say are being exploited to suppress free speech in Britain and beyond. British courts have always been friendlier to libel More >> |
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Combating Libel Lawfare (2009-05-22) Andrew C. McCarthy The National Review It has become fashionable in Washington to speak of “false choices” — “the false choice between our values and our security” or “the false choice between our liberties and our national defense,” for example. Apparently, we don’t need to make these choices. I often wonder, while standing in the body-search line while trying to get on an airplane, or trying to get into Yankee Stadium, or trying More >> |
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Libel Tourism Bill Passed by [NJ] Senate Committee (2009-05-18) Michael Booth New Jersey Law Journal Another bill would strike statute of limitations for survivor lawsuits following homicides The Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday recommended passage of a bill that would make it more difficult for foreign plaintiffs to collect on libel judgments originating from courts overseas. The bill, S-1643 , sponsored by Sen. Loretta Weinberg, D-Bergen, says New Jersey courts need not enforce a More >> |
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'Libel tourism' bill passes state Senate (2009-05-14) Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer San Francisco Chronicle (05-14) 18:12 PDT -- Legislation designed to thwart "libel tourism" - the practice of trying to silence one's critics by suing them in England, where defamation is easier to prove than in the United States - cleared the state Senate without a dissenting vote today. The bill, prompted by the case of a Saudi businessman who sued a U.S. author in a British court for accusing him of financing More >> |
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FIGHTING BACK: Libel: It's What You Say and When and Where You Say It (2009-05-05) Rene A. Henry - The Huntington News Seattle, WV (Special to HNN) – If you can’t get a publication or media organization to correct or retract a defamatory or malicious statement, then the only alternative may be litigation. Chances of winning in court depend where you sue and where you live. Courts in the U.S. require the plaintiff, or party libeled, to prove that the defendant published the statement knowing it to be false, More >> |
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California Acts to Stop Libel Tourism (2009-05-05) Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld The Huffington Post Afflicted with one hazard of globalization -- the spread of the swine flu epidemic -- California's state Senate took measures to protect its citizens from another less deadly, yet terrorizing hazard -- the chilling effects on their freedom of expression by foreign libel judgments. California is the world capital of the entertainment industry, which provides major revenues to the state. To More >> |
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Senate Bill 320- California Libel Tourism Act Hearing- April 28, 2009 (2009-04-28) Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld California State Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Ellen Corbett (Chair) Thank you, Senator Corbett, for initiating this important bill, and thank you, members of the Committee, for holding this hearing on Libel Tourism. California is the world capital of the entertainment industry, which provides major revenues to the state. Yet every creative enterprise produced in California, and every individual writer, director, and producer in California is now at risk of More >> |
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UK Libel Chills Media Investigations (2009-04-28) Andrew Walden FrontPageMagazine.com Why is there so little media investigation of the financing behind Barack Obama’s early political sponsor—and now convicted felon—Tony Rezko? The dual US-Syrian citizen Rezko--who assisted Obama in the purchase of his Chicago mansion--was heavily funded by loans from Iraqi-British ex-Baathist billionaire Nadhmi Auchi. According to testimony at Rezko’s trial, Obama met Auchi at an April More >> |
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Move to control costs in defamation cases (UK) (2009-04-24) Vicky Shaw, Press Association The Independent Plans to control defamation proceedings costs were announced by the Government today, as concerns were raised that not enough has been done to protect the media's freedom of expression. Justice minister Bridget Prentice said that excessive costs and even the threat of them may force defendants to settle unwarranted claims. The aim of the consultation is to ensure that costs are more More >> |
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Beating the press in the globalized age (2009-04-13) Edward Wasserman Miami Herald Sometimes it seems that globalization, like some medieval king, has given the world many more unintended offspring than rightful heirs. Miseries are globalized, too. Case in point: The U.S. practice known among lawyers as forum shopping. That's when your attorney files your suit in a courthouse where the law and the locals will look kindly on your problem, even if it's a place with the barest More >> |
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The Terror Spectator: Tourist Trap (2009-04-13) Peter Hannaford The Miami Herald Meet Khalid bin Mahfouz, libel tourist. This rich Saudi didn't like what Rachel Ehrenfeld wrote about him in her 2003 book Funding Terrorism, so he sued her. She heads a small New York City-based think tank dedicated to uncovering the sources of funds for radical Islamist terrorists. In the book she alleged that Mr. Mahfouz was an important source. The book was published in the United States; More >> |
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Libel over there -- and over here (2009-04-09) Editorial Los Angeles Times Some public figures are using England's plaintiff-friendly laws to go after books they don't like. New York and Illinois have come to the defense of U.S. writers. Congress and California should too. April 9, 2009 Before the American Revolution, a plaintiff could successfully sue a writer for libel even when the offensive statement was demonstrably true. Then, starting with the famous Zenger More >> |
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Free speech, celebrities and ugly truths (2009-04-01) James Rainey Los Angeles Times British courts' plaintiff-friendly libel system strikes at U.S. protections. After taking in a libel law panel the other night in Beverly Hills, I'm ready to stipulate: Nicolas Cage did not steal a Chihuahua. Britney Spears did not make a sex tape. And Cameron Diaz did not snog (translation later) some MTV producer in the bushes behind Justin Timberlake's back. We can thank the More >> |
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I was a victim of libel tourism (2009-03-27) Rachel Ehrenfeld The Guardian (Title should be: How I Fight Libel Tourism)-- Sitting at my desk on 23 January 2004, I was interrupted by an email from a law firm in London. It was a letter threatening to sue me for libel in a British court, for statements made in my book, Funding Evil: How Terrorism is Financed – and How to Stop It, about their client, Saudi billionaire Khalid bin Mahfouz. The letter claimed Mahfouz More >> |
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"Libel Tourism" and the First Amendment (2009-03-23) Charlie Szrom American Enterprise Institute (AEI) Summary WASHINGTON, MARCH 24, 2009--A rise in libel suits brought in British courts against works published in other countries has threatened free speech in America, silenced critics of Islamic radicalism, and provoked a debate over the proper legislative response. Richard Perle, an American Enterprise Institute resident scholar, moderated a recent panel discussion at AEI on the topic. A More >> |
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Combating Libel Tourism: Federal Efforts Needed by Andrew M. Grossman (2009-02-25) Andrew M. Grassman Heritage Foundation Backgrounder #2244 "Libel tourism" is the exploitation of foreign countries' permissive libel laws and weak speech protections to circumvent American authors' First Amendment rights. The technique is particularly favored by those who are linked to terrorist groups and government corruption. By suing in forums such as the United Kingdom, these plaintiffs can suppress publications and win More >> |
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Attack of the Libel Tourists: Weak laws abroad threaten First Amendment freedoms here. Congress coul (2009-02-20) Editorial The Washington Post THE PROBLEM has lightheartedly come to be known as libel tourism, but the damage inflicted on the First Amendment and academic freedom is serious. Disgruntled subjects of articles or books produced and distributed almost exclusively in the United States file suit in foreign jurisdictions to get around the strong First Amendment protections afforded here to journalistic and academic works. In More >> |
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Floor statement Of Senator Arlen Specter Introducing The Free Speech Protection Act of 2009 (2009-02-17) Mr. SPECTER (for himself, Mr. Lieberman and Mr. Schumer) Mr. SPECTER: Mr. President. I am introducing the Free Speech Protection Act of 2009 to address a serious challenge to one of the most basic protections in our Constitution. American journalists and academics must have the freedom to investigate, write, speak, and publish about matters of public importance, limited only by the legal standards laid out in our First Amendment jurisprudence, More >> |
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Rachel’s Law (2009-02-09) Jamie Glazov FrontPageMagazine.com Frontpage Interview's guest today is Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld, director of the American Center for the Democracy and author of Funding Evil: How Terrorism is Financed- and How to Stop It. She has written several other books and hundreds of articles. A frequent guest on radio and TV programs, she is the incentive for new legislation to protect Americans free speech rights from foreigners who sue them More >> |
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'Libel Tourism' Threatens Free Speech: How to stop lawsuits against Americans in British courts (2009-01-10) DAVID B. RIVKIN JR. and BRUCE D. BROWN The Wall Street Journal The farce of foreigners suing Americans for defamation in overseas forums, where the law does not sufficiently protect free speech, is so well-known that it has a fitting nickname: libel tourism. And London is its hot destination. Particularly since 9/11, foreign nationals have cynically exploited British courts in an attempt to stifle any discussion by American journalists about the dangers of More >> |
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Are English courts stifling free speech around the world? (2009-01-08) Economist.com SEEN one way, it is nothing short of a scandal. Small non-British news outlets and humble non-British authors (in many cases catering almost wholly to a non-British public) are being sued in English courts by rich, mighty foes. The cost of litigation is so high ($200,000 for starters, and $1m-plus once you get going) that they cannot afford to defend themselves. The plaintiffs often win by More >> |
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Libel Tourism Special: ENGLISH LAW IS CARTER-RUCKED (2009-01-08) Ratbiter Private Eye.UK Even in the bleak midwinter of austerity Britain, one part of the tourism industry flourishes. Thanks to the efforts of Mr. Justice Eady, foreign litigants still find London an irresistible destination. "Although it is fashionable to rail against 'libel tourism'," he declared just before Christmas, "there is no reason in law why the courts of England and Whales should decline jurisdiction." More >> |
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New Yorkers Blaze Free Speech Trail (2008-12-08) Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld THE HUFFINGTON POST Most Americans take their freedom for granted. Coming from the Middle East and working all over the world, I know better. Elsewhere, free speech and a free press are regarded as privileges, not a sacred right. Take England for example: in January 2004 I was sued in London, by Saudi billionaire and terror-financier, Khalid bin Mahfouz, former banker to the Saudi royal family and owner of the More >> |
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A New York rebellion against libel imperialism (2008-11-25) Brendan O’Neill spiked Brendan O'Neill meets the writers and publishers who have launched a war of independence from England's 'notorious, repulsive' libel laws. Rachel Ehrenfeld doesn't look like a fugitive. Petite, demure, and clad in the black skirt and blouse that is the uniform of New York's working women, she sits on a leather swivel chair in her twenty-fourth-floor apartment on the Upper West Side. Her More >> |
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Rocking the free speech boat (2008-11-24) Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld The Examiner On Jan. 23, 2004, at 2:33 p.m., an e-mail popped up on my computer screen from the solicitors for Saudi billionaire Khalid bin Mahfouz threatening to sue me in London for libel. My first thought was, "He found the wrong victim." I then called my lawyer to find out how best I could fight back. I was determined to prevent the Brits from robbing me of my free speech rights in America. After all, More >> |
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'LIBEL TOURISM': THE FIX WE NEED (2008-10-20) PETER KING New York Post THE House of Representatives last month passed a bill to prohibit the recognition and enforcement of certain foreign defamation judgments. The Senate is expected to take it up soon. Yet the bill (HR 6146) is only a step in the right direction: It doesn't do enough to combat "libel tourism." "Libel tourism" is the practice of litigants seeking out foreign courts whose libel laws are more More >> |
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The Big Chill (2008-10-20) Leslie S. Lebl HUMAN EVENTS It’s September now and still warm, but the temperature is dropping steadily for those who seek to expose the money trails that underpin terrorism -- radical Muslim terrorism in particular. The chilling effect of foreign legal challenges already constrains their ability to write and publish their findings. Five years ago, the U.S.-based publisher Bonus Books released Rachel Ehrenfeld’s More >> |
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Defeating Libel Terrorism (2008-10-20) Deborah Weiss FrontPageMagazine.com There are many forms of terrorism, and violence is just one of them. The non-violent, incremental strategies used to achieve the Muslim Brotherhood’s goal to “sabotage the west from within” are more insidious and more likely to be successful than violence. Though non-violent radicalism takes many forms, one of the most dangerous forms is the effort to stifle free speech through the use of More >> |
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An end to the libel tourist trap: A US bill should put a stop to 'libel tourists' - the rich and fam (2008-10-20) Roy Greenslade The Guardian In a spare half-hour while discussing bailing out American capitalism, the US House of Representatives recently voted through an extraordinary bill with far-reaching implications for Britain's courts. Yet it has received no publicity here and few of Britain's lawyers even know of its existence. By amending the legal code three weeks ago in order to prohibit the recognition and enforcement of More >> |
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"RACHEL’S LAW" GOES NATIONAL - U.S House Takes First Step to Protect Free Speech Against "Libel Tour (2008-09-29) Press Release Washington, DC, September 27, 2008 – The U.S. House of Representatives today passed H.R. 6146, crucial legislation that will protect American citizens from foreign libel judgments that undermine their fundamental First Amendment free speech rights. The bill was inspired by a NYS Libel Terrorism Protection Act - commonly known as "Rachel’s Law", signed into law in New York earlier this year, More >> |
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Bringing an End to ‘Libel Tourism’ (2008-09-29) The New York Times The House of Representatives has passed a good bill that would prevent American courts from enforcing libel judgments obtained in foreign countries if those countries provide less free speech protection than the United States does. The Senate should pass a companion bill before it recesses, and the president should sign it. The bill on "libel tourism" strikes an important blow for free More >> |
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Books: Libel Law and First Amendment Issues – discussion (2008-09-26) Rachel Ehrenfeld and Gene Policinski The Washington Post Author, "Funding Evil: How Terrorism Is Financed -- And How to Stop It"; Executive Director, First Amendment Center Friday, September 26, 2008; 3:00 PM U.S. journalist Rachel Ehrenfeld, author of "Funding Evil: How Terrorism is Financed - and How to Stop It," will be online Friday, Sept. 26 at 3 p.m. ET to discuss a new U.S. law that would protect U.S. citizens against libel judgments in More >> |
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"Libel Tourism": When Freedom of Speech Takes a Holiday (2008-09-15) ADAM COHEN New York Times When Rachel Ehrenfeld wrote "Funding Evil: How Terrorism Is Financed and How to Stop It," she assumed she would be protected by the First Amendment. She was in the United States. But a wealthy Saudi businessman she accused in the book of being a funder of terrorism, Khalid bin Mahfouz, sued in Britain, where the libel laws are heavily weighted against journalists, and won a sizable amount of More >> |
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British libel laws violate human rights, says UN (2008-08-15) Duncan Campbell guardian.co.uk Human rights committee says UK laws block matters of public interest and encourage libel tourism. Britain's libel laws have come under attack from the United Nations committee on human rights for discouraging coverage of matters of major public interest. The use of the Official Secrets Act to deter government employees from raising important issues has also been criticized. The intervention More >> |
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For freedom's sake, we must stop libel tourism (2008-08-15) Tim Luckhurst guardian.co.uk MPs should listen to the UN's criticisms, before English courts become censorship enforcement agencies for wealthy litigants. "Oh would some power the giftie gie us, to see ourselves as others see us," wrote Robert Burns in To a Louse. But democratically elected governments face incessant scrutiny. So it is unusual to see one exposing itself voluntarily to the glare of critical inspection. But More >> |
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Britain's libel laws are stifling free speech, says UN (2008-08-14) Robert Verkaik, Law Editor Independent.co.uk British libel laws are stifling free speech around the world as wealthy businessmen and celebrities increasingly turn to UK courts to silence their critics abroad, the United Nations has warned. In a report published yesterday, the UN's Committee on Human Rights criticizes the phenomenon of "libel tourism", where foreign businessmen and millionaires use the High Court in London to sue foreign More >> |
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Schumer's Steps Forward (2008-07-28) Editorial The New York Sun Senator Schumer's |
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Mosley 'freedom of speech' case: Justice Eady's rulings have the opposite effect in U.S. (2008-07-25) Daily Mail Reporter News Mosley 'freedom of speech' case: Justice Eady's rulings have the opposite effect in U.S. *By Daily Mail Reporter Last updated at 12:32 AM on 25th July 2008 Presiding over privacy: Mr Justice Eady has handled many high-profile privacy cases in the UK. Some commentators believe Mr Justice Eady is single-handedly creating a new, tougher, law of privacy in Britain. But his actions More >> |
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Foreign Courts Take Aim at Our Free Speech (2008-07-14) ARLEN SPECTER and JOE LIEBERMAN OPINION - DOW JONES REPRINTS Our Constitution is one of our greatest assets in the fight against terrorism. A free-flowing marketplace of ideas, protected by the First Amendment, enables the ideals of democracy to defeat the totalitarian vision of al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations. That free marketplace faces a threat. Individuals with alleged connections to terrorist activity are filing libel suits and winning More >> |
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Rachel's Law (2008-06-09) Mark Silverberg International Analyst Network Suicide bombers aren't the only weapon being used by jihadists in their war with Western civilization. By exploiting the free world's laws on libel, they have succeeded in intimidating writers who expose their terrorist activities. One of the most powerful weapons Islamists have is the threat to use the courts to silence those who get in their way. That's why a recent action by New York Gov. More >> |
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Alfano, Skelos Libel Terrorism Legislation Signed Into Law (2008-06-06) Assemblyman Tom Alfano Opinion Assemblyman Tom Alfano and Senate Deputy Majority Leader Dean Skelos announced that their legislation protecting American authors from "Libel Terrorism" was signed into law by Governor Paterson. As authored by Senator Skelos, Assemblyman Alfano and Assemblyman Rory Lancman, the legislation provides greater protection to New York writers and journalists against libel judgments in countries whose More >> |
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Growth of 'Libel Tourism' in England and U.S. Response (2008-06-04) Jennifer McDermott and Chaya F. Weinberg-Brodt New York Law Journal Online The sharply conflicting English and American defamation regimes have recently returned to the international spotlight, following New York state's enactment of the Libel Terrorism Protection Act, the so-called Rachel's Law, which potentially renders many English libel judgements unenforceable in New York state. More>> |
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Congress Seeks To Extend Free-Speech Protections to Libel Cases Overseas (2008-05-16) Marc Perelman Forward An American author who has faced lawsuits for her writings about terrorism financing has sparked a burgeoning legal movement in the United States. In recent weeks, there has been a flurry of legislative activity taking aim at the growing number of libel lawsuits filed against American authors in foreign courts. Bills have been introduced in both the House and Senate aimed at combatting what More >> |
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Bill targets overseas libel suits (2008-05-15) JTA A bill introduced in the U.S. Congress would penalize plaintiffs who use looser libel laws overseas to bring frivolous lawsuits. The bill, introduced in recent weeks in the House of Representatives by Rep. Pete King (R-N.Y.) and in the Senate by Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.), is based on Rachel's Law, enacted May 1 in New York State. That law arose from a suit brought in Britain by Saudi More >> |
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Hacks v beaks - Rich people and bad laws mean tough times for free speech (2008-05-12) The Economist WHEN writing about litigious issues, big British newspapers favour phrases such as "he strenuously denies all wrong-doing" (possible translation: has no convincing explanation of his behaviour); "has failed to dispel speculation that..." (was scandalously involved in), as well as words like "controversial" (outrageous) and "murky" (corrupt). Such expensively lawyered prose helps present a More >> |
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Libel Tourism is Real (2008-05-11) Elizabeth Samson, Esq. Global Politician Several months ago I began an analysis of the misuse of foreign and domestic judicial systems for political purposes. At the same time it seemed as though there were frequently instances of strange happenings in the news. Taxi drivers not allowing passengers with seeing-eye dogs in their cars because it was inconsistent with their religious beliefs, imams being removed from a flight after acting More >> |
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A victory for free speech- THE WASHINGTON TIMES EDITORIAL (2008-05-11) THE WASHINGTON TIMES EDITORIAL May 11, 2008 THE WASHINGTON TIMES EDITORIAL - One of the most powerful weapons Islamists have is the threat to use the courts to silence people who get in their way. That's why it was so heartening to learn that on April 30, New York Gov. David Patterson signed into law the Libel Terrorism Protection Act, which is critically important in protecting the First Amendment rights of persons who More >> |
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Specter, Lieberman, King Introduce Free Speech Protection Act (2008-05-07) U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA), Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-CT), U.S. Rep. Peter King lieberman.senate.gov WASHINGTON, D.C. (May 7, 2008) — U.S. Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Senator Joseph Lieberman (I-CT), Chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, and U.S. Representative Peter King (R-NY), Ranking Member of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Homeland Security, today announced the introduction of the Free More >> |
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Publishers Applaud Signing of New York Libel Tourism Bill (2008-05-01) American Association of Publishers Washington, DC, May 1, 2008: The U.S. publishing industry warmly welcomed the signing of a bill in New York that will make it harder for “libel tourists” to threaten authors and publishers with foreign libel suits. The new law, the “Libel Terrorism Protection Act,” which was signed yesterday by Governor David Paterson, prohibits the enforcement of a foreign libel judgment unless a New York court More >> |
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New York Approves Libel Tourism Bill (2008-05-01) Lynn Andriani Publishers Weekly New York State Governor David Paterson signed a bill into law yesterday that will make it harder for “libel tourists” to threaten authors and publishers with foreign libel suits. The Libel Terrorism Protection Act prohibits the enforcement of a foreign libel judgment unless a New York court determines that it satisfies the free speech and free press protections guaranteed by the First Amendment More >> |
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Governor Signs “Libel Terrorism Protection Act” Into Law (2008-05-01) Press Release - American Center for Democracy First-in-the-Nation Legislation Will Protect American Journalists and Authors From Overseas Defamation Lawsuits - Albany, NY (May 1, 2008) – Governor David Paterson announced today that he signed into law the “Libel Terrorism Protection Act” (A.9652 |
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The Libel Terrorism Protection Act, also known as *RACHEL's LAW, signed by Governor (2008-05-01) Asm. Rory Lancman (D-Queens) and Sen. Deputy Majority Leader Dean G. Skelos (R-Rockville Centre) Albany, NY (May 1, 2008) -- New York State Governor David Paterson yesterday signed the "Libel Terrorism Protection Act" (S.6687/A.9652), which on March 31 passed the state's Assembly and Senate unanimously. Also known as Rachel's Law, the bill sponsored by Assemblyman Rory Lancman (D-Queens) and Senate Deputy Majority Leader Dean G. Skelos (R-Rockville Centre) will protect American More >> |
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Foreign Law and the First Amendment (2008-04-30) Floyd Abrams The Wall Street Journal Late in 1941, the U.S. Supreme Court issued an opinion which, for the first time in our history, starkly distinguished American protection of speech from that of England. Two union members had been convicted of assaulting non-union truck drivers. The day before they were to be sentenced, the Los Angeles Times published an editorial urging the trial judge not to grant probation, but to punish More >> |
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Sign Rachel's Law (2008-04-29) Opinion New York Post It's hard to think of anything more critical these days than information about terrorists, and a bill on Gov. Paterson's desk would help keep it flowing. The Libel Terrorism Protection Act basically would make authors immune to defamation suits in countries that don't offer the full free-speech rights provided by the US and New York constitutions. Paterson has until tomorrow to sign the More >> |
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Libel Terrorism Protection Act - Interview with Daniel Kornstein (2008-04-25) Jamie Glazov FrontPageMagazine.com Frontpage Interview’s guest today is Dan Kornstein, a lawyer who has excelled in his career in New York City for 35 years. A founding partner of Kornstein Veisz Wexler & Pollard, LLP, he graduated from Yale Law School after serving in the Vietnam era Army. In addition to a busy litigation practice, he writes frequently on law-related topics and has four non-fiction books and hundred of articles More >> |
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Free Speech Vs. Lawsuit Terrorism (2008-04-14) INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY Islamofascism: Suicide bombs aren't the only chilling weapon Islamists are using in their war to the death with Western civilization. Exploiting the free world's laws on libel and so-called hate speech, they intimidate truth-telling writers. When American Center for Democracy director Rachel Ehrenfeld in 2003 authored "Funding Evil: How Terrorism Is Financed — and How to Stop It," she was More >> |
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Terrorizing Publishing (2008-04-11) Roger Kimball The NY SUN This spring, Encounter Books is publishing "Willful Blindness: a Memoir of the Jihad," by Andrew McCarthy, who helped prosecute the "blind sheik" Omar Abdel-Rahman and other jihadists. I recently received a message from someone who helps distribute our books in Britain: "Can you please let us know if there are any references to Saudis and terrorist[s] in the book. We are just concerned that More >> |
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One signature away from protecting freedom (2008-04-09) Star-Gazette Editorials www.stargazettenews.com Paterson should sign law to prevent foreign libel laws from applying to New Yorkers. In societies in which people govern themselves and hold public officials accountable, the ability to freely gather and share information is critical. But government officials on the receiving end of public scrutiny do not always agree that robust discussion is a good thing. Therefore, two More >> |
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'Libel Tourism' Bill Protecting Authors Passed by Legislators (2008-04-03) Joel Stashenko NEW YORK LAW JOURNAL ALBANY - State legislators voted unanimously this week for legislation that would protect authors and publishers in New York from libel judgments won by plaintiffs in foreign countries with standards that are less stringent than in the United States. In approving A9_652/S6687 (_Se_e Bill Summary and Memo),_ the Senate and Assembly reacted to a Court of Appeals ruling that declined to change More >> |
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English courts in the dock on ‘libel tourism’ (2008-04-02) Michael Peel and Megan Murphy FINANCIAL TIMES Rinat Akhmetov, a Ukrainian energy tycoon ranked by Forbes magazine as the world’s 214th richest billionaire, is no stranger to England’s libel courts. He has launched successful actions in London over the past year against Kyiv Post and Obozrevatel, two Ukrainian internet journals. Laura Tyler, his lawyer, says Mr Akhmetov went to England because he has a reputation and business links there, More >> |
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Letter to NY Governor David A. Paterson (2008-04-02) Patricia S. Schroeder Association of American Publishers The Honorable David A. Paterson Governor of the State of New York Executive Chamber State Capitol Albany, New York 12224 Dear Governor Paterson: On behalf of the more than 300 corporate members of the Association of American Publishers, many of whom are located in New York, we are writing to ask that you move with all dispatch to sign into law the “Libel Terrorism Protection Act,” More >> |
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Legislature Passes Libel Terrorism Protection Act (2008-03-31) Assemblyman Rory I .Lancman Sen. Dean G. Skelos New York State Assembly, 25TH District // New York State Senate,9 District RACHEL's LAW unanimously Passed by NY Legislators Thank you all for supporting the bill. New York State Assembly, 25TH District / / New York State Senate,9 District Assemblyman Rory I .Lancman Sen. Dean G. Skelos Legislature Passes Libel Terrorism Protection Act To Protect American Journalists and Authors From Overseas Defamation Lawsuits Albany, NY (March 31, 2008) - The New York More >> |
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Libel tourists out, says New York State (2008-03-20) Michael Cameron Gazette of Law and Journalism As “libel tourism” burgeons in Britain, the State of New York is set to protect its writers and journalists from such action via the Libel Terrorism Protection Act. Michael Cameron reports from the Big Apple on what this means for free speech and America’s “war on terror” By Michael Cameron* New York’s independent journalists and freelance writers stand More >> |
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Saudi wields British law against U.S. author (2008-03-17) James Oliphant, Tribune Correspondent Chicago Tribune NEW YORK Rachel Ehrenfeld writes about terrorism for a living. But now she is the one who feels targeted. Her modest midtown Manhattan apartment is filled to the ceiling with books, most having to do with global terror networks and Mideast conflict. Sitting at her desk, she gazes out at the Hudson River. She says she has a hard time placing her work. She says she has been blacklisted. If More >> |
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The Libel Terrorism Bill (2008-03-12) David Sigal NY LAW JOURNAL The Libel Terrorism Bill, by David Sigal, NY LAW JOURNAL, March 12, 2008 http://acdemocracy.org/031208.pdf |
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This Woman is Saving Your Way of Life (2008-03-06) Julia Gorin politicalmavens.com Rachel Ehrenfeld has been struggling quietly in what should be the loudest, most publicized legal battle of the century: A gay Saudi terror financier (you got that?) has sued American citizen Rachel Ehrenfeld in a British libel court for outlining in her 2003 book Funding Evil how the charities he supports fund terrorism. The terrifying fact here is that there is no law in place in America that More >> |
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NEW YORK MOVES A STEP CLOSER TO LIBEL TOURISM BAN (2008-03-03) Mike Dodd Media Lawyer A Bill intended to amend New York's laws so as to protect writers and publishers from decisions in defamation cases brought in foreign courts has passed a major stage of the process in the State legislature. The Libel Terrorism Protection Act was given a unanimous passage in the state Senate in Albany, the New York Law Journal reported. The Bill is intended to amend New York's so-called More >> |
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Exclusive: British Libel Law – Suppression of Truth in the US and UK? (2008-03-03) Adrian Morgan Family Security Matters In June last year I wrote on the situation of Rachel Ehrenfeld, who was landed with a default libel judgment against her at the High Court in London. Dr. Ehrenfeld had decided not to attend the hearing for libel, pertaining to statements she had made in her book: “Funding Evil: How Terrorism is Financed and How to Stop it". The ruling against her was made by High Court judge, Mr. Justice Eady. As More >> |
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NY court: Saudi billionaire can pursue British claims in the U.S. (2008-03-03) LARRY NEUMEISTER Newsday.com The author of a book about financing terrorism can't prevent a Saudi billionaire from trying to enforce a London libel verdict in the United States, a federal appeals court said Monday. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Manhattan author Rachel Ehrenfeld's lawsuit to stop the billionaire, Khalid Salim A. Bin Mahfouz, from trying to collect on a default judgment obtained against More >> |
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New York passes law against 'libel tourists' (2008-02-29) Times Online The state will protect authors against foreign libel judgments after a US journalist was sued by a Saudi businessman in London Times Online and PA Politicians in New York have acted to protect the state’s writers and publishers from so-called libel tourism after an English libel judgment went against an American author. The Libel Terrorism Protection Act was given a unanimous passage More >> |
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Albany Bill Would Grant 'Libel Terrorism' Jurisdiction (2008-02-28) Joel Stashenko NY LAW JOURNAL ALBANY - In December, the Court of Appeals acknowledged growing media concerns over the use of plaintiff-friendly foreign libel laws to muzzle New York journalists, but held it was beyond the Court's authority to intervene under the state's long-arm statute. Yesterday, legislation to allow New York courts to do just that cleared a major hurdle with unanimous passage in the state Senate. The More >> |
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RACHEL'S LAW (2008-02-25) SAMUEL A. ABADY & HARVEY SILVERGLATE NEW YORK POST February 25, 2008 -- A CRITICAL First Amendment bill, the "Libel Terrorism Reform Act" is pending in both houses of the state Legislature. It was written in direct response to the Court of Appeals' decision in the case of Ehrenfeld v. bin Mahfouz. Rachel Ehrenfeld is an Israeli-American terrorism scholar and internationally recognized counterterrorism expert. In her book "Funding Evil: How More >> |
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NY State’s “Libel Terrorism Protection Act” (2008-02-01) David Horowitz FrontPageMagazine.com As the head of The David Horowitz Freedom Center and Editor-in-Chief of Frontpagemag.com, I welcome the bipartisan “Libel Terrorism Protection Act” (A-9652 and S-6687), which was introduced two weeks ago in the New York Assembly and Senate by Assemblyman Rory Lancman (D) and Senator Dean Skelos (R). The bill was introduced to protect New York authors and publishers who expose More >> |
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America's First Amendment Lifeline (2008-01-25) Alyssa A. Lappen humanevents.com World War II began long before the outbreak of military hostilities, with the Nazi campaign to silence its critics. Yet 63 years after the end of World War II, the U.S. today faces new threats to free speech. Islamic terrorists and their advocates have increasingly succeeded in silencing critics of hatred and inhumanity, much as the Nazis silenced theirs, through intimidation -- but also now, More >> |
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Protecting Our Journalists From Libel Terrorism (2008-01-21) Assemblyman Rory Lancman humanevents.com When we think about those fighting the war on terror, we of course first think of our soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq. They are on the front lines, risking their lives to protect our country. We also think about our local cops and firefighters and first responders. They are defending our cities, unearthing terrorist plots and rushing to the scene of attacks to save and rescue lives. But More >> |
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Britain is a destination for libel suits (2008-01-20) Doreen Carvajal International Herald Tribune PARIS: You're an investment bank in Iceland with a complaint about a tabloid newspaper in Denmark that published critical articles in Danish. Whom do you call? A pricey London libel lawyer. That is called libel tourism by lawyers in the media trade. And Britain remains a comfortable destination for the rich in search of friendly courts, which have already weighed complaints from people who More >> |
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NEW YORK LEGISLATORS ACT OVER LIBEL TOURISM CASE (2008-01-15) MediaLawyer.Press.Net Two members of New York's legislature have put forward a new Bill intended to protect writers and publishers who live and work in the State from libel actions brought against them in foreign jurisdictions. The move, by Democratic Assemblyman Rory Lancman and Republican Senator Dean Skelos, follows the decision by the New York Court of Appeals that the State's laws did not protect writer More >> |
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Mark Steyn Is Not Alone (2008-01-15) Brooke M. Goldstein spectator.org Award-winning author Mark Steyn has been summoned to appear before two Canadian Human Rights Commissions on vague allegations of "subject[ing] Canadian Muslims to hatred and contempt" and being "flagrantly Islamophobic" after Maclean's magazine published an excerpt from his book, America Alone. The public inquisition of Steyn has triggered outrage among Canadians and Americans who value free More >> |
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Publishers Welcome NY Legislation to Fight ‘Libel Tourism’ (2008-01-14) FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Judith Platt (202) 220-4551 Deidre Huntington (202) 220-4550 Washington , DC , January 14, 2008: The Association of American Publishers (AAP) welcomed the introduction of legislation in the New York State legislature that will make it harder for “libel tourists” More >> |
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Senator Skelos And Assemblyman Lancman Introduce Bill To Protect American Authors Who Expose Terrori (2008-01-14) FRESH MEADOWS, NY (January 14, 2008) – Assemblyman Rory Lancman (D-Queens) and Senate Deputy Majority Leader Dean Skelos (R-Long Island) introduced the “Libel Terrorism Protection Act” (S.6687/A.9652) on the front steps of The New York Public Library yesterday (the entire press conference is viewable here: (Part 1 |
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New York state lawmakers offer legislation to protect authors (2008-01-13) Newsday.com NEW YORK (AP) _ Two state lawmakers on Sunday announced details of proposed legislation aimed at protecting authors and journalists whose First Amendment freedoms to write about terrorism issues could be imperiled by libel lawsuits in foreign countries. The plan by Sen. Dean G. Skelos and Assemblyman Rory I. Lancman resulted from a ruling last month by the state Court of Appeals that existing More >> |
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Council Bill Could Protect Authors (2008-01-10) Joseph Goldstein nysun.com A bill introduced this week in Albany would give new protection to New York authors and journalists against libel judgments from foreign courts and would make it easier for writers to use New York courts to challenge foreign judgments against them. The bill was introduced in response to a British libel judgment against a New York-based researcher that ordered her to pay a libel award of 30,000 More >> |
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Decision Rejects N.Y. Jurisdiction For 'Libel Tourists' (2007-12-21) Joel Stashenko New York Law Journal http://acdemocracy.org/122107.pdf |
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New York Appeals Court Opens Door to 'Libel Tourism' (2007-12-20) JOSEPH GOLDSTEIN nysun.com NEW YORK’s Highest court turned down a chance today to protect American authors from libel judgments awarded by foreign courts. The case decided today, which pits a Saudi billionaire against a New York-based researcher, was a test of how New York's courts will respond to concerns that the First Amendment rights of American authors are being undermined by libel judgments imposed abroad, More >> |
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Against the Threat of Libel Tourism (2007-12-15) Diederik van Hoogstraten de Volkskrant http://acdemocracy.org/121507.pdf |
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US AUTHOR'S FIGHT AGAINST LIBEL JIHAD (2007-12-08) Watching the Media AMERICAN MEDIA STRANGELY QUIET OVER A GROUND-BREAKING DEFAMATION CASE FEATURING A SAUDI BILLIONAIRE VS A NEW YORK ACADEMIC AND AUTHOR US media interest in the ground-breaking defamation case of Ehrenfeld v Mahfouz that’s been playing out in American courts has been minimal to say the least, but interest is slowly increasing, particularly now that Middle Eastern interest are beginning to More >> |
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Last Stop On The Libel Tour (2007-12-05) Elizabeth Samson thejewishweek.com Several weeks ago the New York State Court of Appeals began hearing arguments in a case with monumental and far-reaching implications for the protection of United States citizens abroad and the rights afforded by the First Amendment. The stakes are high in the case of Ehrenfeld v. Mahfouz, and the very future of free expression and public participation for all U.S. journalists, authors and their More >> |
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Financial Jihad (2007-11-28) Jamie Glazov FrontPageMagazine.com Frontpage Interview’s guest today is Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld, Director of the American Center for Democracy. She has a 25-year track-record of following terrorist financing, especially Islamic radical groups and states. In the late 1980’ she identified how Saudi Arabia, the Gulf States and Iran bankrolled terrorism, and how they developed Islamic banking to advance the Islamic More >> |
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Libel Terrorism (2007-11-26) Matthew Vadum NewsBusters.org Supporters of Islamic totalitarianism are using courts to silence their critics and advance their agendas as the American mainstream media barely take notice. Take the case of Sheikh Khalid bin Mahfouz [1], the billionaire alleged funder of terrorism, and his dogged critic, Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld [2]. Their story has been chronicled here [3] by the Moving Picture Institute [4]. (Newsbusters' Pam More >> |
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Where's the outrage over Saudi abuses? (2007-11-24) Brian Mosely Times-Gazette Last year, this space related the story of a gang rape victim in Saudi Arabia who was sentenced to 90 lashes of the whip because she was alone in a car with a man to whom she was not married. At the time, this writer was stunned, but not surprised, that the Saudis would pull something like this, since their laws have remained the same since the mid-seventh century. When this writer More >> |
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The Liberal Tourist: Silencing Free Speech (2007-11-21) Ericka Andersen Human Events Litigious Saudi Arabians -- making use of plaintiff-friendly British libel laws -- have imposed major restrictions on free speech in Britain. British law is just the opposite of American law. In America, someone suing for libel has to show that the statement -- or article or book -- is false. In Britain, it’s just the other way around. The defendant has to prove that what he said or More >> |
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The lights go out in Britain (2007-11-20) Melanie Phillips The Spectator The sinister police response to Islamist incitement (see post below) in which they tried to suppress the evidence of it in the interests of ‘community cohesion’ is unfortunately part of a far larger picture of terminal British cultural cringe and abasement in the face of the threat to Britain and the west. Following the statement by the head of MI5 that we should ‘pay close More >> |
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Britain and the US are not shoulder to shoulder over defamation (2007-11-19) Dan Tench The Guardian When it comes to libel, the US disagrees with the high court - and one American author is hoping to take advantage of it English libel law itself could face scrutiny in a US court, in a case brought by a US author in New York. Rachel Ehrenfeld's Funding Evil: How Terrorism is Financed - and How to Stop It was published in 2003, and alleged that Saudi businessman Sheikh Kalid bin Mahfouz, More >> |
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NEW YORK COURT CONSIDERS FREE SPEECH CASE (2007-11-16) Mike Dodd MediaLawyer.Press.Net Media groups in the United States and Britain are awaiting the result of a decision by the highest court in New York State in the latest stage of a battle between an academic and a Saudi Arabian businessman who obtained a libel judgment against her in the High Court in London. The New York State Court of Appeals yesterday heard argument on the issue of the circumstances under which More >> |
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State Court of Appeals to determine long-arm laws (2007-11-15) Valerie Bauman Newsday.com The state's highest court must decide under what circumstances New York's "long-arm" law can be invoked to give the state personal jurisdiction over someone who is not physically within the state. The Court of Appeals heard arguments Thursday from Rachel Ehrenfeld, the author of a book about the funding of terrorism. The Manhattan author is seeking protection from British court judgments More >> |
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US author mounts 'libel tourism' challenge (2007-11-15) David Pallister Guardian Unlimited A ferocious attack on the "chilling effect" of the English law of libel and its use by wealthy "foreign tourists" will be mounted in a top US court today, with backing from organisations that represent a majority of the world's media. The case is being brought in the New York state court of appeals by an American academic, Rachel Ehrenfeld, against one of the richest men in the world, the Saudi More >> |
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Sheikh it all about (2007-11-08) economist.com How far can a Saudi sheikh use English law against an American author? CAN the guarantee of free speech in America's first amendment trump English libel law? That is the question facing New York's Court of Appeals, in a case starting on November 15th. Rachel Ehrenfeld, a New York-based author, is seeking a ruling that an English libel judgment against her cannot be enforced in America and that More >> |
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Chilling free speech (2007-10-19) Ilan Weinglass The Washington Times The U.S. media has started to notice Saudi billionaire Khalid bin Mahfouz's use of British libel laws to silence allegations that he funded al Qaeda. Even the venerable New York Times has featured an essay on the subject, plus an Op-Ed urging Congress to prevent U.S. courts from enforcing foreign libel judgments. While this would be a worthwhile achievement, most commentators have missed the More >> |
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Home Court Advantage (2007-10-11) MICHAEL J. BROYDE and DEBORAH E. LIPSTADT The New York Times THANKS to the Internet, universal access to the printed word and economic globalization, the 21st century is expected to be shaped by the free exchange of ideas. But casting a shadow over this optimistic prediction is the emerging threat of “libel tourism.” In 2004, Khalid bin Mahfouz, a billionaire Saudi businessman, took action against Rachel Ehrenfeld, an American author whose More >> |
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Attorneys have an effective new way to defeat Islamic groups’ libel suits. (2007-10-10) Judith Miller City Journal Nothing gets a journalist’s attention like a subpoena. While authoritarian regimes silence critics by murdering or jailing them, journalists (and other critics) in the United States face gentler, but still effective, intimidation: libel lawsuits. Over the last few years, Islamists have tried silencing reporters, scholars, and citizens by suing them for defamation, often successfully. But More >> |
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British Libel Actions Target Terrorism Books (2007-10-08) Charles Hoskinson, CQ Staff CQ WEEKLY – VANTAGE POINT Influential residents of repressive regimes in the Middle East can use a wide range of official measures to counter criticism and suppress dissent. Now, a trio of Western authors contend that one such controversial figure — billionaire Saudi financier Khalid bin Mahfouz — has hit upon a novel extension of such strategies, using Britain’s plaintiff-friendly libel law to cancel More >> |
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Bin Mahfouz “chilling” affect, (2007-10-08) PDF private-eye.co.uk http://www.acdemocracy.org/Private_Eye-10-08-07.pdf |
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Libel Without Borders (2007-10-07) Rachel Donadio The New York Times When it first appeared in 2006, “Alms for Jihad,” an academic book on Islamic charitable networks by two American scholars, drew scant attention. It sold a modest 1,500 copies and received few reviews. But in recent weeks the book has become an international cause célèbre, after Cambridge University Press agreed to pulp all unsold copies in a defamation settlement. Last spring, More >> |
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Private Eye (2007-09-28) Nick Cohen private-eye.co.uk The most relentless opponent of freedom of speech in England is not MI5, the Downing Street press office or Muslim Council of Britain but a sombre lawyer, whose colleagues can't remember the last time he cracked a joke. Mr Justice Eady has found against reporters so often that the Law Lord, Lord Hoffman, slapped him down being 'hostile' to responsible journalism in the public interest. He is More >> |
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Fighting Financial Jihad (2007-09-23) Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld PAJAMASMEDIA Of the 36 writers and publishers that Saudi billionaire — and terror financier — Khalid bin Mahfouz has sued or threatened to sue in England for libel, only Rachel Ehrenfeld the author of Funding Evil: How Terrorism is Financed - and How to Stop It has not backed down. She explains how and why she is fighting back. By Rachel Ehrenfeld Since March 2002, Saudi billionaire Khalid More >> |
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Ehrenfeld will not accept (Ehrenfeld wil niet schikken) (2007-09-11) Diederik van Hoogstraten De Volkskrant http://www.acdemocracy.org/ehrenfeld2.pdf |
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Up in smoke (2007-08-31) Kelly Jane Torrance THE WASHINGTON TIMES By Kelly Jane Torrance - Book burning, in these enlightened times, might seem like something found only in science-fiction novels. But two American authors have found the practice quite literally still exists. Their tome wasn't destroyed because of populist outrage. Rather, a single man succeeded in pressuring their publisher to pulp the book — without having to set foot in the country More >> |
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Where Terrorism and Censorship Meet (2007-08-29) Cinnamon Stillwell San Francisco Chronical It has become popular for those with competing political agendas to allege threats to free speech, whether real or imagined. Yet, there is a very real threat to free speech that has received little attention in the public sphere. It's called libel tourism and it has become a major component in the ideological arm of the war on terrorism. At question is the publication of books and other More >> |
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The Libel Tourist Strikes Again (2007-08-20) Duncan Currie The Weekly Standard In late July, Cambridge University Press announced it was destroying all its remaining copies of Alms for Jihad, a 2006 book exploring the nexus of Islamic charities and Islamic radicalism. At the same time, Cambridge asked libraries around the world to stop carrying the book on their shelves. The reason? Fear of being sued in a British court by Sheikh Khalid bin Mahfouz, a Saudi billionaire who More >> |
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The Gary Null Show Interview (2007-08-20) The Gary Null Show Progressive Radio Network http://www.acdemocracy.org/images/interview082007.mp3 |
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Protect the American Media … Whether They Deserve It or Not (2007-08-14) Andrew C. McCarthy HUMAN EVENTS It is a hard thing to defend the American media. Even when they are right and even when they badly need defending. In large part, that’s because press hypocrisy is so striking. Journalists demand two sets of rules: one for themselves, one for everyone else. They claim monopoly over the dark corners where their sources and sometimes deceptive intelligence-gathering practices must be More >> |
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The Forbidden Library (2007-08-13) Bryan Preston hotair.com Peruse the “complete” list of banned and challenged books, and you won’t find a couple of titles that we’ve been discussing here on Hot Air lately. Neither Alms for Jihad nor Funding Evil, nor any of the other three books that Khalid bin Mafouz is attempting to suppress, are on the list. Perhaps the list just needs updating. Or perhaps the list’s authors aren’t More >> |
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SAUDIS SUE FOR SECRECY (2007-08-08) Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld New York Post August 8, 2007 -- THE Saudis' efforts to keep a veil of secrecy over their sup port for al Qaeda and Hamas got a shot in the arm last week, as a British publisher opted to suppress a controversial book on the financing of terror. Facing the mere threat of a lawsuit from Saudi billionaire Khalid bin Mahfouz, Cambridge University Press agreed to pulp all the unsold copies of "Alms of Jihad: More >> |
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NEW YORK COURT AGREES TO EXAMINE LIBEL CASE PROTECTION ISSUE (2007-08-07) MediaLawyer.Press.Net The New York State Supreme Court has agreed to request to investigate whether the State's law would give a federal court the right to protect one of its citizens from enforcement of an award of damages and a costs order made by an English Court. The request to the New York Supreme Court was made by the United States Second Circuit Court of Appeals - a federal court - as it dealt with a request More >> |
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The Fly in the Bin Mahfouz Ointment (2007-08-06) Alyssa A. Lappen FrontPageMagazine.com U.K. libel laws and courts have been among Saudi Arabia’s most successful tools to veil its Islamic proselytization and terrorist funding. The Saudi operator is billionaire Khalid Bin Mahfouz, who has sued or threatened to sue some 36 U.S. and U.K. publishers and authors and was given default judgments in all of them. But there is a new fly in bin Mahfouz’ Saudi ointment—an More >> |
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Hot Air audio: How one wealthy jihad supporter is using UK courts to kill American free speech (2007-08-02) Bryan hotair.com It’s difficult to overstate the importance of this story. The Chronicle of Higher Education (sub. required) on Wednesday published an article about Khalid bin Mafouz, a wealthy Saudi banker, and his successful effort to persuade the Cambridge University Press to halt the publication of four books that detail how Saudi citizens use their wealth to finance global terrorism. One of those More >> |
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Hot Interview (2007-08-02) Stanley Kurtz The Corner Bryan Preston, of Hot Air has posted an important interview with Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld, on the Alms for Jihad controversy. We ought to be grateful for the courage of Rachel Ehrenfeld. After listening to this remarkable interview, you may want to go here and contribute to her organization. I continue to be struck by the potential significance of this story, and also by the extent to which a More >> |
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Libel Suit Leads to Destruction of Books (2007-08-02) Gary Shapiro The New York Sun Cambridge University Press has agreed to destroy all unsold copies of a 2006 book by two American authors, "Alms for Jihad," following a libel action brought against it in England, the latest development in what critics say is an effort by Saudis to quash discussion of their alleged role in aiding terrorism. In a letter of apology to a wealthy Saudi businessman, Sheikh Khalid Bin Mahfouz, More >> |
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The Chronicle of Higher Education (2007-08-01) David Glenn chronicle.com Cambridge University Press announced this week that it would pulp all unsold copies of the 2006 book Alms for Jihad: Charity and Terrorism in the Islamic World, in response to a libel claim filed in England by Khalid bin Mahfouz, a Saudi banker. The book suggests that businesses and charities associated with Mr. Mahfouz financed terrorism in Sudan and elsewhere during the 1990s. "Cambridge More >> |
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Attention Authors: Be afraid, very afraid.... especially if you write about the Saudis and their sup (2007-07-24) Deborah Lipstadt blogspot.com Whenever David Irving's libel case against me comes up someone inevitably asks: How could he sue you in the UK? I explain that my book was bought and published by Penguin UK and therefore he could drag me into a UK court. Turns out that now the reach of UK libel laws has been greatly extended. It's a frightening development. In an earlier post I wrote about Rachel Ehrenfeld and how she was More >> |
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From the British Courts: A strange libel case that gives pause to authors and comfort to terrorism (2007-07-22) Deborah Lipstadt blogspot.com There is currently a court battle going on which sounds absolutely absurd. In short, Rachel Ehrenfeld, an American and founder of the American Center for Democracy, wrote a book which mentioned Khalid Salim bin Manfouz, accusing him of funding Hama and Al Qaeda. The Washington Times has an column summarizing the outlines of the story. Bin Mafouz sued Ehrenfeld in London for libel. As most More >> |
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Battling Censorship (2007-07-20) Robert Spencer Washington Times One of the most potent weapons that global jihadists have to advance their cause is one of the least-remarked: censorship. And Rachel Ehrenfeld, founder and director of the American Center for Democracy, stands today as one of the primary targets of this tactic - and, by her ongoing resistance, one of the foremost defenders of the freedom of speech against encroaching attempts at legal More >> |
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Stop Islamic Conquest (2007-07-20) Yankee Doodle stopislamicconquest.blogspot.com Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld is an expert on how terrorists finance their terror. She has a website, The American Center for Democracy, and her articles, as well as those of other excellent researchers and scholars, are also published at The Terror Finance Blog. I link to these and other sites in a prominent location on the sidebar. Dr. Ehrenfeld is an author, and in her book Funding Evil she exposes More >> |
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Landing a solid counterpunch for free speech (2007-06-17) Gary Reid Canada Free Press Last August, I wrote a CFP column about the use of British courts to advance libel claims by Arabs to shut down criticism and analysis of their activities from journalists and authors. The phenomenon even has a name, “libel tourism”, because the plaintiffs in these cases are not British citizens. They are taking advantage of a plaintiff-friendly legal system and a court that, for More >> |
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1st AMENDMENT ON TRIAL (2007-06-16) Bob Unruh worldnetdaily.com Rachel Ehrenfeld The author of a U.S.-published book that accused a former Saudi banking executive of funding terrorism is battling a precedent that experts say could give any foreign libel law priority over U.S. free press and speech guarantees. The case involving Rachel Ehrenfeld is one of the "most important First Amendment cases of the past 25 years," and its potential for damaging the More >> |
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The High Cost of Free Speech (2007-06-16) Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld San Diego Jewish World NEW YORK—On June 8, 2007, seven months after hearing arguments in my suit against Saudi billionaire Khaled bin Mahfouz—Ehrenfeld vs. bin Mahfouz—the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals established an important legal precedent, henceforward affecting all American writers and publishers. This “case is one of the most important First Amendment cases of the past 25 More >> |
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The High Cost of Free Speech (2007-06-15) Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld Democracy-Project On June 8, 2007, seven months after hearing arguments in my suit against Saudi billionaire Khaled bin Mahfouz--Ehrenfeld vs. bin Mahfouz--the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals established an important legal precedent, henceforward affecting all American writers and publishers. This “case is one of the most important First Amendment cases of the past 25 years,” says prominent More >> |
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US Court Ruling: How Will it Impact Coverage of Terrorism? (2007-06-14) Adrian Morgan familysecuritymatters.org The UK is infamous for its libel laws, which do not even begin to conform to US legal or constitutional principles. Yet an extremely important battle involving the UK is now taking place in New York State, which could have major ramifications for Americans’ free speech rights. FSM Contributing Editor Adrian Morgan reveals the enormity of what is at stake. US Court Ruling: How Will it More >> |
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A Victory for Freedom of Speech (2007-06-14) Lee Kaplan FrontPageMagazine.com As Saudi petrodollars buy influence throughout the world for the Islamic feudal kingdom that finances world terrorism and propaganda, the US Second District Court of Appeals in New York just gave America a breath of fresh air. Lawyers for terrorism researcher and author Rachel Ehrenfeld, author of Funding Evil, a book about Saudi financial influence in promoting worldwide jihad, overturned a More >> |
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NEW MOVE IN US BATTLE OVER ENGLISH LIBEL DECISION (2007-06-12) Michael Dodd MediaLawyer.Press.Net The battle over whether a Saudi Arabian businessman who sued an American academic in London over a book which was not published in Britain can enforce the judgment he won has been sent from a United States federal court to the New York State Court of Appeals. The move is the latest in the battle between Saudi businessman Sheikh Khalid Bin Mahfouz and his two sons and New York-based Dr Rachel More >> |
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State Court Asked If Long Arm Reaches to Party in U.K. Suit (2007-06-11) Joel Stashenko New York Law Journal Online ALBANY - The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit asked the New York Court of Appeals on Friday for guidance on whether the state's long-arm statute confers to the federal court personal jurisdiction over a Saudi businessman who was named as a supporter of terrorism in a New York author's book. The author, Rachel Ehrenfeld, is seeking in Ehrenfeld v. Mahfouz, 06-2228-cv, to have the More >> |
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Battling the Saudis (2007-01-11) Jonathan Dahoah Halevi Shalom Toronto Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld, a terrorism expert, and director of the New York-based American Center for Democracy (www.acdemocracy.org) is suing Saudi billionaire Sheik Khalid Salim bin Mahfouz, the former banker of the Saudi royal family who has been alleged to fund terrorist organizations such as HAMAS and al-Qaeda, for which he is also being sued, by the 9/11 victims. Ehrenfeld is suing Mahfouz in More >> |
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Has British libel law fallen foul of US protections again? (2006-12-04) Mark Stephens Times Online The book, unobjectionable by American libel standards, was not published in the UK but 23 copies were sold to British buyers over the internet and one chapter was made available online. On that basis, the sheikh climbed aboard his private jet and filed suit in London in June last year. Dr Ehrenfeld decided it was not worth the time or expense to mount a defence against a billionaire of More >> |
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US Press Awaits Judgment in 'Libel Tourism' Appeal (2006-11-24) Mike Dodd pamediapoint.press.net Publishers and journalists in the United States are awaiting the decision of a federal Appeals Court after it reserved judgment in a case in which an American terrorism researcher has asked for protection from enforcement of a British court's order that she should pay damages for libel. Dr Rachel Ehrenfeld went to the US District Court in New York after Mr Justice Eady, sitting in the High More >> |
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A US author has declared war on Britain’s ‘libel imperialism’. (2006-11-13) Brendan O'Neill The First Post This is about defending my First Amendment rights." Rachel Ehrenfeld, a New York author, has declared war on England's 'libel imperialism'. This week she will argue before the Federal Court of Appeals in Manhattan that a libel ruling made against her at the High Court in London in 2005 should be struck off as an infringement of her right to free speech. Ehrenfeld is a tough-talking More >> |
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A British Court's Libel Judgment Is Reviewed by American Judges Saudi Sued Ehrenfeld Over Allegation (2006-11-09) Joseph Goldstein The New York Sun A federal appellate court heard arguments yesterday in the case of a New York-based counterterrorism researcher who was ordered by a British court to pay and apologize to a Saudi billionaire she accused of funding terrorism. One judge on the three-judge panel yesterday expressed reservations about the British court order. Still the questions from the judges of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of More >> |
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'Libel tourism' and the war on terror (2006-11-07) Samuel A Abady and Harvey Silverglate The Boston Globe AN IMPORTANT question will be argued tomorrow before the federal Court of Appeals in Manhattan: should American journalists who write about controversial issues be subjected to legal intimidation from abroad? More precisely, will American courts halt the growing practice of "libel tourism" whereby wealthy foreigners sue American writers and publishers in England, despite little chance of More >> |
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(2006-10-16) Mike Dodd MediaLawyer.Press.Net American academic Dr Rachel Ehrenfeld, who was sued for defamation in London by a Saudi Arabian businessman over a book which was not published in the United Kingdom is taking her legal battle for protection against the High Court's award of damages award and an injunction to the United States Court of Appeals. Mr Justice Eady ordered Dr Ehrenfeld to pay Sheikh Khalid bin Mahfouz and his two More >> |
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Critical 1st Amendment Case Headed to Appeal (2006-10-15) public-integrity.org New York, N.Y.--On November 8, 2006, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit will hear oral argument in Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld's appeal of a lower court's dismissal of her critical lawsuit against Saudi financier Sheikh Khalid Salim bin Mahfouz. If successful, Dr. Ehrenfeld's case could establish an effective wall against frivolous and malicious libel litigation targeting More >> |
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Request for correction of the listing for Khalid bin Mahfouz (2006-09-27) Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld public-integrity.org To: readers@forbes.com Conversation: Your Listing for Khalid bin Mahfouz Subject: Your Listing for Khalid bin Mahfouz To the Editor: Your statement that Khalid bin Mahfouz, #214 on Forbes' list of "The World's Richest People," won a court battle against me in England is misleading. I chose not to defend myself in England because my book, Funding Evil: How Terrorism Is Financed and How to More >> |
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Libel Tourism in Britain (2006-09-15) Video public-integrity.org Click here to watch this Video: http://www.public-integrity.org/news/091506.php |
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Statement of 9/11 Families for a Secure America in support of Dr. Ehrenfeld's lawsuit (2006-09-06) public-integrity.org 06-2228-cv IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SECOND CIRCUIT --------------------------------------------- RACHEL EHRENFELD, Plaintiff-Appellant , v. KHALID SALIM A BIN MAHFOUZ, Defendant-Appellee. --------------------------------------------- On Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of New More >> |
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The 9/11 Families United to Bankrupt Terrorism in support of the position of Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld in (2006-09-01) PDF public-integrity.org Click here to view this PDF Cover Letter: http://www.public-integrity.org/news/Ehrenfeld_Letter_Cover_Letter.pdf Click here to view this PDF Letter of Support: http://www.public-integrity.org/news/Ehrenfeld_Letter_Attachment.pdf |
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Anti-dhimmitude from 9/11 families, in defense of Rachel Ehrenfeld (2006-08-26) Robert Spencer Jihadwatch.org The courageous writer Rachel Ehrenfeld has been subjected to a bullying lawsuit by the Saudi billionaire Khalid bin Mahfouz. You can find the details here. Now 9/11 Families For A Secure America has written a strong and much-needed letter in her defense: The members of 9/11 FSA, as direct victims of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, have therefore have a special interest in the More >> |
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Trans-national (2006-08-18) Gary Reid Canada Free Press This column is probably more interesting for CFP's American readers than its Canadian ones, yet it affects us all equally, at least in one regard; the war against Islamic jihadists. It concerns an Israeli-born, American citizen, Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld, who is the director of the American Center for Democracy. Dr. Ehrenfeld has a distinguished academic background. She was a "Research Scholar More >> |
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Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld vs. Khalid bin Mahfouz: Reply Brief (2006-08-16) PDF public-integrity.org Click here to view this PDF: http://www.public-integrity.org/news/Response__August_18__2006__Do_0.pdf |
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A town called Sue (2006-07-24) Brendan O'Neill New Statesman "This is libel imperialism. It's more than 200 years since America won independence from Britain, yet we're still being punished by your archaic laws." Rachel Ehrenfeld, an Israeli-born author now living in midtown New York, is angry. In May last year she was sued by a Saudi billionaire after she made allegations about him in her book Funding Evil: how terrorism is financed - and how to stop More >> |
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Saudi Money Attacking Free Speech in America (2006-07-13) Robert Spencer Jihadwatch.org Robert Locke was educated at Columbia University and lives in New York City. His archive is at robertlockearchive.com. This article is a Jihad Watch exclusive: The laws of Saudi Arabia, based upon the sharia law mandated by the Koran, do not recognize the rights and freedoms guaranteed Americans by the Constitution. The Saudi government makes no secret of its ambition to export Islamic More >> |
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Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld vs. Khalid bin Mahfouz: Amicus Brief (2006-07-12) PDF public-integrity.org Click here to view this PDF: http://www.public-integrity.org/news/06_2228_cv_Amicus_Brief.pdf |
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Saudi Money Attacking Free Speech in America (2006-07-12) Robert Locke The American Daily The laws of Saudi Arabia, based upon the sharia law mandated by the Koran, do not recognize the rights and freedoms guaranteed Americans by the Constitution. The Saudi government makes no secret of its ambition to export Islamic tyranny worldwide, as the Koran commands. What most Americans don’t realize, is that American courts are helping it in a number of ways. For example, they are More >> |
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Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld vs. Khalid bin Mahfouz: Appeal (2006-07-05) PDF public-integrity.org Click here to view this PDF: http://www.public-integrity.org/news/Ehrenfeld_v._Mahfouz.pdf |
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History is philosophy teaching by example (2006-05-09) Eleanor Sixth Column These are not people with clean hands, yet their considerable wealth has allowed them muscle journalists and authors into silence and into retractions. Although Judge Casey ignored Ehrenfeld's please for her First Amendment rights and decided that he had no jurisdiction over the case, Ehrenfeld has no dropped the matter. She is filing an appeal and faces the difficult challenge of raising More >> |
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Islamism's Legal Manipulations (2006-05-09) Lee Kaplan FrontPageMagazine.com Judge Richard Casey of The Southern District Court in Manhattan has handed down a decision against Rachel Ehrenfeld, director of the American Center for Democracy, that will have a chilling effect on the fight against Saudis and others financing Islamist terrorism. Ehrenfeld has written extensively about the Saudi fifth column in the United States that uses its oil wealth to invade American More >> |
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Update on a case against Saudi financier Sheikh Khalid Salim a Bin Mahfouz (2006-05-06) Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld public-integrity.org Dear Friends: I am writing to update you on my legal case against Saudi financier Sheikh Khalid Salim a Bin Mahfouz and to ask for your continued support. As you know, Mahfouz obtained a default libel judgment against me in the United Kingdom based on statements about him in my book, Funding Evil: How Terrorism is Financed, and How To Stop It. I did not defend myself in the United More >> |
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England's Chilling Forecast PDF (2006-05-01) Raymond W. Beauchamp public-integrity.org Click here to view this PDF: http://www.public-integrity.org/news/Beauchamp.pdf |
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Bin Laden - Iran Collaboration A Possibility, Terror Expert Warns (2006-01-20) Mark Ellis Across.co.nz NEW YORK (ANS) -- She’s a one-woman tour de force in a personal crusade to expose the dark nether world of terror financing. Growing up in Israel, she personally experienced a hatred fueled by radical propagandists that has only increased today, leaving her very concerned about the future of the U.S. and the Middle East. Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld “There is a long term strategy started More >> |
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'Repugnant' Britain lures libel tourists (2005-10-02) Brendan O'Neill Press Gazette WHEN FILM-MAKER Roman Polanski won £50,000 damages from Vanity Fair in a libel case in Britain in July, it was a stark reminder — if any were needed — that our libel laws can have a chilling effect on American writers and publishers as much as on British ones. The Polish director, who lives in France (and who has been a fugitive from the USA since 1977 after he allegedly committed More >> |
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The Bench Let's Go: Libel (2005-08-01) Jeffrey Toobin The New Yorker When the first plane crashed into the World Trade Center, Rachel Ehrenfeld was sitting at her desk in her apartment in midtown. “I was on the phone with my editor in Brussels, finishing an op-ed about terror financing for the European edition of the Wall Street Journal,” she said the other day. “I ran up to the roof to see what was going on, then I came back downstairs and did a More >> |
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The Israeli Researcher Versus the Saudi Billionaire (2005-07-25) Haim Handwerker public-integrity.org In a book published in the United States, Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld accused Khalid bin Mahfouz of participating in funding of al Qaeda. He sued her in London, and won. Now she is seeking the protection of a U.S. court from the "intolerable ease" of presenting a libel suit in Britain. New York Rachel Ehrenfeld, an American-Israeli researcher in the field of terrorism financing who lives in New More >> |
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Libel Wars (2005-07-18) Alyssa A. Lappen FrontPageMagazine.com When billionaire sheik Khalid Salim a bin Mahfouz uses the London courts to attack his critics, there is little most people can do. In dozens of cases to date, reporters and newspapers have apologized, settled or backed off completely from stories critical of bin Mahfouz. But one truth-seeker isn't backing down. In December 2004, investigative reporter and American Center for Democracy More >> |
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AIM Report: Saudi Billionaire Threatens U.S. Author (2005-06-22) AIM Report Aim.org Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld is acclaimed for her detailed and investigative reporting on complex financial networks that support drug trafficking and terrorism. She was one of the first investigative journalists to draw attention to the controversial political and global activities of George Soros, the billionaire who took advantage of a loophole in U.S. campaign-finance law and spent $23 million last More >> |
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Be Reasonable (2005-06-19) Leading Articles Times Online If the law is sometimes an ass, English libel law in the age of the internet is an ass in a mess. The case of Khalid bin Mahfouz which we report today is merely the latest in which wealthy litigants from foreign countries have sought - and in this case won - legal recompense for damage to their reputation in London, chiefly because the odds here are uniquely stacked in their favour. Such cases More >> |
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Libel and money - why British courts are choice of the world (2005-06-19) Dominic Kennedy Times Online A SAUDI billionaire is being accused of libel tourism after he and his sons won £30,000 damages in the High Court over 23 copies of an American book imported into Britain. US publishers might have to stop contentious books being sold on the internet in case they reach the “claimant-friendly” English courts. The author Rachel Ehrenfeld is countersuing Khalid bin Mahfouz in New More >> |
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Judge attacks author over libel tourism allegation (2005-06-16) Dominic Kennedy public-integrity.org http://www.public-integrity.org/articles/publications061605.php A JUDGE has vigorously defended England's strict libel laws after awarding £30,000 to a Saudi billionaire and his sons over 23 copies of an American book imported into Britain. Mr Justice Eady accused an author of trying to "cash in" on the publicity of being sued in London while refusing to come to court to justify More >> |
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Ehrenfeld: International Libel Law Battle 'IS ABOUT FREEDOM OF SPEECH' (2005-06-16) Mike Dodd public-integrity.org MAIN STORY : The legal battle between an American academic and billionaire Saudi Arabian businessman Sheikh Khalid Bin Mafhouz will decide whether writers in the United States will have the freedom to investigate and write about terrorism and its financing, or whether the search for truth will be compromised, according to papers filed with the US District Court in southern New York. The More >> |
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Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld vs. Khalid bin Mahfouz: Amici Curiae Brief (2005-06-11) public-integrity.org BRIEF OF AMICI CURIAE AMAZON.COM, AMERICAN SOCIETY OF NEWSPAPER EDITORS, ARTICLE 19, ASSOCIATION OF ALTERNATIVE NEWSWEEKLIES, ASSOCIATION OF AMERICAN PUBLISHERS, INC., AUTHORS GUILD, INC., ELECTRONIC FRONTIER FOUNDATION, EUROPEAN PUBLISHERS COUNCIL, JOHN FAIRFAX HOLDINGS, LTD., NEWSPAPER ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA, ONLINE NEWS ASSOCIATION, NYP HOLDINGS, INC., RADIO-TELEVISION NEWS DIRECTORS More >> |
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Writer Counter-Sues in States Over 'Forum Shopping' Row (2005-05-23) Mike Dodd public-integrity.org An American academic who was sued in London by a Saudi Sheikh and his two sons over a book published in the United States has ignored the case - and instead launched a counter-claim in New York. Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld, an expert on terrorism and terrorist funding, was sued in the High Court by the billionaire banker and businessman Sheikh Khalid Bin Mahfouz and his sons over allegations in her More >> |
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Seeking U.S. Turf for a Free-Speech Fight (2005-04-04) Sara Ivry The New York Times London has become something of a magnet for libel litigants looking for a plaintiff-friendly jurisdiction. Now one defendant is taking an uncommon approach to fighting back. Rachel Ehrenfeld, the politically conservative author of "Funding Evil: How Terrorism is Financed and How to Stop It" (Bonus Books, 2005), was served last year with a lawsuit accusing her of defaming Khalid bin Mahfouz, a More >> |
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Another First Amendment Landmark Case? (2005-03-21) Thomas Lipscomb public-integrity.org (March 21, 2005) -- When Rachel Ehrenfeld, author of the book "Funding Evil: How Terrorism Is Financed and How to Stop It," opened her apartment door just before 10 p.m. on March 3, she believed she was simply receiving some legal papers from London. But this was no ordinary messenger. According to Ehrenfeld, the visitor carried a warning as well: &ldquoYou had better respond. Sheik bin More >> |
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Brit law can't trump free speech (2005-03-14) Joel Mowbray DC Examiner Tough and feisty, acclaimed author Rachel Ehrenfeld has been battling Saudi sponsors of terrorism in print for years. Now she's taking the fight to the courtroom. While she didn't start the current face-off - she was sued first by a prominent Saudi billionaire - she is trying to blaze a new path for other authors who otherwise might be gun shy about taking on petro princes. After publishing More >> |
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Terror expert, rich sheik in part 2 of court fight (2005-03-10) Thomas Lipscomb & Maki Becker nydailynews.com A New York terrorism expert is charging that a Saudi billionaire used a foreign court to try to silence her claim that he helped finance terror groups. In her book "Funding Evil: How Terrorism is Financed and How to Stop It," Rachel Ehrenfeld alleged that Sheik Khalid Salim a bin Mahfouz helped fund terror sects. Mahfouz, who has successfully sued similar accusers for libel, won a default More >> |
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Book Author Sues Saudi Billionaire (2004-12-10) Larry Neumeister New York Sun The author of a book about the funding of terrorism has asked a federal judge to protect her against court judgments obtained by a Saudi billionaire who has successfully sued other authors in British courts. Rachel Ehrenfeld, the author of "Funding Evil: How Terrorism is Financed - and How to Stop It," published last year, filed a lawsuit Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Manhattan against More >> |
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Khalid bin Mahlfouz' Lawsuit Against Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld (2004-10-19) public-integrity.org On October 19, 2004, Khalid bin Mahfouz, the former owner of the National Commercial Bank (NCB), the biggest bank in Saudi Arabia, filed suit for libel against Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld in an English court. He sued for statements made in the original edition of Dr. Ehrenfeld's book Funding Evil: How Terrorism is Financed and How to Stop It . In her book, she wrote about Mahfouz's widely-reported More >> |
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Funding Evil (2004-01-15) Jamie Glazov FrontPageMagazine.com Frontpage Interview has the pleasure to have Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld, the author of the new book Funding Evil: How Terrorism is Financed and How to Stop It, as its guest today. Dr. Ehrenfeld is the director of the New York–based American Center for Democracy, and the Center for the Study of Corruption & the Rule of Law. She is the foremost authority on Narco-Terrorism, having coined the phrase More >> |
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ON THE SPECIAL IMPORTANCE OF RACHEL EHRENFELD: AN APPRECIATION (2001-07-13) Louis Rene Beres The Jewish Press Magazine For many years I have followed closely the remarkable work of a singularly dedicated scholar, Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld. Director of the Center for International Integrity, her two major books - EVIL MONEY and NARCO-TERRORISM - are established classics in the field. Now working on another important book, THE FINE ART OF STEALING DEMOCRACY: THE ROAD TO KLEPTOCRACY, Dr. Ehrenfeld continues her rare More >> |
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New York state lawmakers offer legislation to protect authors (0000-00-00) Newsday.com NEW YORK (AP) _ Two state lawmakers on Sunday announced details of proposed legislation aimed at protecting authors and journalists whose First Amendment freedoms to write about terrorism issues could be imperiled by libel lawsuits in foreign countries. The plan by Sen. Dean G. Skelos and Assemblyman Rory I. Lancman resulted from a ruling last month by the state Court of Appeals that existing More >> |
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