The Muslim News

PA News:

Wealthy businessman Yousef Jameel settled a libel action today with the Sunday Times which published an article reporting he had links with Osama bin Laden.

The Saudi Arabian, whose group of companies includes the major British car dealership, Hartwell plc, agreed to withdraw the libel case on undisclosed terms.

James Price QC, representing him at the High Court in London, told Mr Justice Gray that the article, published in June 2003, was headed “Car tycoon ‘linked’ to bin Laden”.

Alongside the article were pictures of Mr Jameel, one of his car dealerships and the Twin Towers of the World Trade Centre in New York in flames.

It reported that Mr Jameel had been added as a defendant in litigation brought in the United States on behalf of victims of the September 11 terrorist attacks in the US.

Mr Price said: “Mr Jameel was concerned that readers of the article may have understood it to suggest that there were reasonable grounds to suspect that he had financially supported Osama bin Laden in connection with terrorism and that he helped fund the training of the terrorists who carried out the attacks.

“As a result he issued proceedings for libel against the Sunday Times.

“The Sunday Times accepts Mr Jameel’s assurances that he has never, financially or otherwise, supported Osama bin Laden or Al Qaeda; and, as was stated in the original article, that he was appalled by the 11 September attacks.”

The article said Mr Jameel had been added as a defendant in the US litigation after his name appeared on a list of wealthy Saudi Arabian businessmen found in the offices of a charity in Bosnia in March 2002.

The list was believed to date from 1988 when bin Laden’s role supporting the mujahideen in Afghanistan against the Soviet Union was looked on favourably by Western governments, including the US, said Mr Price.

Mr Jameel denies that he ever made any donation either to bin Laden, al Qaida, or to the charity in Bosnia.

Mr Price said: “The defendant has agreed to join in the making of this statement this morning in order to avoid any misunderstanding.

“In the light of this, the claimant is satisfied that his purpose in bringing these proceedings, the vindication of his reputation, has been achieved and he has agreed not to pursue this case further.”

Stephen Suttle QC, representing the newspaper, said: “The Sunday Times took the view that, as a matter of public interest, it was entitled to report neutrally the fact that Mr Jameel had been added as a defendant to the 11 September litigation and to explain the reasons why, according to the US Lawyers acting for the plaintiffs, this had happened.

“It was not the intention of the Sunday Times to give credence to the claim against Mr Jameel. The Sunday Times has never sought to maintain that Mr Jameel had financially supported Osama bin Laden in connection with terrorism or that he helped fund the training of the terrorists who carried out the 11 September attacks.

“The Sunday Times accepts that the claimant is not a supporter of Osama bin Laden or al Qaida and regrets if the article may have given readers a different impression.”

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