Nadia Sawalha and Mark Adderley win defamation case against Mail and Metro

Right-wing rags the Daily Mail and Metro have been forced to issue “full apologies” and pay “substantial damages” to actress Nadia Sawalha and her filmmaker husband, Mark Adderley.

The papers had smeared the couple with atrocious and completely false smears claiming they had made antisemitic statements.

The pair announced their court victory in a joint video statement this morning.

 

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Sawalha and Adderley ‘push back’

The couple said their victory showed that the smears had put them and their family in danger, but the win showed that it is possible and vital to “push back against a legacy media that will go to any lengths to try and destroy lives and reputations with false allegations”.

Their lawyer, Zillur Rahman, of Rahman Lowe law firm, said the pair had triumphed over “serious and damaging allegations”.

These were serious and damaging allegations which falsely suggested that our clients supported terrorism and promoted antisemitic conspiracy theories for simply calling out Israeli war crimes, and opposing Zionism.

Our clients have consistently opposed racism in all its forms. We are pleased that both publishers have now accepted the falsity of these claims, issued public apologies, and agreed to pay substantial damages.

Newspapers backtrack

The Daily Mail’s apology reads:

An article “Loose Women star Nadia Sawalha claims ‘dark forces’ are at work after husband suspended from the Green Party over ‘antisemitic’ YouTube rant” (30 April) said that Mark Adderley had shared videos celebrating the ‘courage’ of Hamas as well as conspiracy theories blaming Jews for the September 11 and Bondi Beach attacks.

While Mr Adderley does have strong views about Israel and Zionism, he did not make these statements suggesting support for terrorism or hatred of Jews.

The article also said that Mr Adderley and his wife, Ms Sawalha, run a YouTube channel, and that Ms Sawalha fully supported her husband, which may have suggested that she endorsed the statements and videos wrongly said to have been shared by him.

These allegations were false and we apologise to Mr Adderley and Ms Sawalha for the error and distress caused.

The Metro’s statement is essentially identical:

An article “Nadia Sawalha hits back at ‘lies’ after Loose Women axe claims” (8 May) said that Mark Adderley had shared videos celebrating the ‘courage’ of Hamas as well as conspiracy theories blaming Jews for the September 11 and Bondi Beach attacks.

While Mr Adderley does have strong views about Israel and Zionism, he did not make these statements suggesting support for terrorism or hatred of Jews.

The article also said that Mr Adderley and his wife, Ms Sawalha, run a YouTube channel, and that Ms Sawalha fully supported her husband, which may have suggested that she endorsed the statements and videos wrongly said to have been shared by him.

These allegations were false and we apologise to Mr Adderley and Ms Sawalha for the error and distress caused

This is not the end…

The win is reminiscent of the repeated wins by Labour party left-wingers over right-wing rags during Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership of the party. Those lies had the same aim — remove or silence those who speak out against Israel, its crimes and its land theft.

Adderley and Sawalha said that they have other cases still ongoing and issued a warning to lying hacks.

We have a number of other cases pending. If you lie about us we will NOT take it lying down.

Featured image via the Canary