UK libel tourism

1. Rachel Ehrenfeld, an Israeli-born writer living in the US, was successfully sued in 2004 by Saudi banker Khalid bin Mahfouz in the UK over claims made in her book Funding Evil that he and his family had provided financial support to Islamic terrorist groups. Even thought the book was not published in Britain, bin Mahfouz’s lawyers argued that more than 20 copies of her book had been purchased there online. The judge ruled that she had to pay a judgment of $225,000, apologize for false allegations and destroy existing copies.

1. The Danish tabloid Ekstra Bladet (executive editor Bent Falbert) was sued by Kaupthing, an investment bank in Iceland, for libel in London over critical articles about the company’s advice to the wealthy about tax shelters this year. The articles were published in an English translation on a Danish Web site that gets some, if minimal, traffic in Britain. They eventually reached an out-of-court settlement, with Ekstra Bladet agreeing to pay the bank “very substantial damages”, and cover “reasonable legal costs”.

1. New-York based Forbes Magazine was successfully sued in 2003 by Russian business tycoon Boris Berezovsky in a British court, over an article on his business activities and his connections with President Yeltsin, alleging that he was involved in the murder of political rivals his connections with President Yeltsin. Forbes agreed to publish a correction, both in the magazine and on its website.

1. Al Arabiya, a satellite television network based in Dubai and broadcasting in Arabic, was successfully sued by a Tunisian businessman over allegations he had ties to terrorist groups. He was awarded $325,000 (£165,000)

1. Ukrainian newspaper Kyiv Post was sued by Ukrainian oligarch Rinat Akhmetov this year over allegations that he had acted unlawfully in certain business transactions. The newspaper published an apology in its newspaper and online at its website, and agreed to the reading of the Statement in Open Court in order to unequivocally apologise for the false allegations.

1. Deborah Lipstadt was sued by David Irving in 1998 for calling him a Holocaust denier in her book Denying the Holocaust. However the English court found for Lipstadt, concluding that Irving was “an active Holocaust denier” as well as an anti-Semite and racist.