Martin Bright

The Importance of Being Libelled

There has been an interesting repsonse to my last post about the libel laws. “Engage”, an organisation ostensibly committed to “promoting greater media awareness, political participation and civic engagement among British Muslims” has embarked on the bizarre strategy of libelling me. The organisation behind the “Engage” website is somewhat opaque. But a list of apologies and press complaints commission judgements suggests that it is the branchild of Inayat Banglawala, the Muslim Council of Britain’s longtime spokesman.

Under the disreputable headline “Veteran Islamophobe Martin Bright criticises MCB libel win” an anonymous writer makes a series of unsubstantiated claims. I have already taken legal advice about this, although I wouldn’t have needed to do so to realise it is seriously defamatory. I object in the strongest terms to the way the insult  “Islamophobe” is thrown around so casually. It is essentially a charge of racism: the cheapest of shots and utterly without foundation.

The anonymous article goes on to claim (again with no evidence) that “Bright himself is no stranger to making allegations against the MCB that play cavalier with the truth.”

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