Lawfare in the UK : Who Is Behind It This Time?

Shiraz Maher
Hudson New York
16 September '10

Britain's pernicious libel laws are in the spotlight again: recently the Spectator, a weekly publication focusing on politics, culture and the arts, settled an ongoing dispute with IslamExpo following legal threats. The organizers objected to an article by Stephen Pollard (editor of the Jewish Chronicle) which drew attention to the nature, background and politics of IslamExpo's organizers.

Documents registered with Companies House – a legal requirement for all incorporated companies in England and Wales – reveal that Mohammed Sawalha, Azzam Tamimi, Ismail Patel and Anas al-Tikriti are the registered directors and/or company secretaries.

It is worth, therefore, exploring these individuals in more detail.

Mohammed Sawalha is a Palestinian who fled to London in 1990 after discovering the Israeli authorities wanted to arrest him. An authoritative investigation for the BBC by John Ware – a formidable and robust journalist – made a series of startling revelations about Sawalha; they alleged that Sawalha "master minded much of Hamas political and military strategy" from London; then went on to describe him as a "fugitive Hamas commander."

Sawalha never sued the BBC over those allegations; instead he chose to focus on the substantially smaller resources of the Spectator. Of course, there is little for Sawalha to actually complain about when the Muslim Brotherhood's own website, IslamOnline, describes him as "manager of the political committee of the International Organization of the Brothers [i.e. the Muslim Brotherhood] in Britain."*

Last year Sawalha also signed the "Istanbul declaration" after Israeli military action in Gaza during operation Cast Lead. In itself, it is a damning document. Framed as a "statement" addressed to "all rulers and peoples concerning events in Gaza." it condemns those who have "given up the choice of jihad in the way of Allah as an effective means in defeating the occupation."

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