-Caveat Lector-
This is an interesting case. Was Galloway set up by Blair and Brit intel by planting phony documents then fed to the now discredited Neocon Telegraph publisher Conrad Black? flw
The Telegraph
Galloway wins libel case over Saddam claims By Caroline Davies (Filed: 03/12/2004)
George Galloway was awarded £150,000 libel damages against The Daily Telegraph yesterday after a High Court judge ruled that he had been "seriously defamed" over the newspaper's coverage of documents naming him and found in Iraq.
Mr Justice Eady said the newspaper had conveyed to reasonable and fair-minded readers that the Glasgow Kelvin MP had been in the pay of Saddam Hussein and diverted monies from the oil-for-food programme, thus depriving the Iraqi people, whose interests he had claimed to represent, of food and medicines.
He said the newspaper had alleged that Mr Galloway, 50, had probably used his Mariam Appeal as a front for personal enrichment, and claimed that what he had done was "tantamount to treason".
Mr Galloway called the ruling a "judicial caning" for the newspaper, and insisted that "the documents are either forgeries or they have been doctored - but they are in any case false".
The newspaper had denied libelling the MP in articles published on April 22 and 23 last year and based on documents found by its foreign correspondent, David Blair, in Baghdad shortly after the fall of Saddam's regime.
Among the documents was one from the head of Iraqi Intelligence to Saddam's office purporting to show Mr Galloway had received money from the regime through the oil-for-food programme to fund his political work on behalf of Iraq and that he had requested more money.
The newspaper claimed it was responsible journalism and in the public interest to publish the documents and a right to comment on the contents. It faces £1 million costs.
Mr Galloway strenuously denied the "outrageous and incredibly damaging" allegations that either he or the appeal received or sought any money from Saddam.
The judge strongly criticised the coverage, including the newspaper's news reports, leaders, headlines and use of pictures, saying that the articles were not "neutral reportage" of the documents. The newspaper had "not merely adopted" the allegations in the documents but had "embraced them with relish and fervour". Neil Darbyshire, the executive editor of The Daily Telegraph, said the newspaper was "disappointed by this judgment, which we believe is a blow to the principle of freedom of expression in this country". "The Daily Telegraph published genuine documents that emanated from the highest levels of the Iraqi government and raised questions about the activities of Mr Galloway, a British Member of Parliament. "While we have no doubt that these documents are authentic, it has never been The Daily Telegraph's case to suggest that we could prove the information contained within them is true." The paper had published them "believing that their contents were important, should be made public and would in due course be investigated by the proper authorities". The newspaper is considering an appeal. Mr Galloway said: "I have had to risk total and utter ruin in order to bring this case. If I had lost it, I would be bankrupt, my house would have been taken away from me, my job would be lost. "I have had to risk absolutely everything to obtain the vindication this judgment brings me. So I do not feel happy. I feel angry that I was forced to do that". He hoped one day to be able to establish "who was responsible for these documents". "The situation is Baghdad is such that were I to go there, I am sure the friends of The Daily Telegraph in control of Iraq would like to arrange an accident for me." The judge found Mr Galloway a "truthful and compelling" witness, and all witnesses to be "impressive and straightforward", but he ruled that the newspaper coverage had not been "neutral".
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