Coronation Street’s Qasim Akhtar is to recieve “substantial” damages after a High Court libel claim. The actor, 35, known for playing Zeedan Nazir on the ITV soap opera, sued News Group Newspapers (NG), the publishers of The Sun, earlier this year.
His decision to sue the publication came after an article was published both in print and digitally in November last year, falsely claiming that the Manchester-born actor had “backed” and “teamed up with” Islamic cleric Uthman ibn Farooq, was associated with extremism, radicalisation and violence, and had “moved to Pakistan” and “trained with guns”.
The publication previously apologised “unreservedly” to Qasim for the “serious harm and distress caused to him by the publication of these false allegations”.
At the High Court today, before Mrs Justice Tipples, lawyer Daniel Taylor, representing Qasim, said that the NGN had agreed to pay the actor “substantial damages” and cover his legal costs.
Taylor said: “The defendant has accepted that the publication of the article caused serious harm to Mr Akhtar’s reputation and also caused him great distress.
“This included reputational harm to his family life and business, which he was forced to put on hold pending the matter being resolved.
“The libel was compounded by the fact that the defendant has acknowledged that it failed to obtain Mr Akhtar’s response to these very serious allegations prior to publication.”
Andrew Wheelhouse, representing News Group Newspapers, said: “The defendant acknowledges that the article should never have been published and has undertaken never to repeat the allegations” Akhtar was not present in court for the hearing.
On social media last month, Qasim told his followers the last six months had been “very tough to say the least”. He added that the allegations in the article “deeply affected me, my reputation, my family, my safety and my peace of mind.” He added: “Some of you may or may not be aware that in November of last year upon returning from performing my Umrah (pilgrimage), an article was published about me with false allegations that deeply affected me, my reputation, my family, my safety and my peace of mind.
“‘Indeed, with hardship comes ease’ (Quran 94:6). I’d like to think that over the past few years, as I’ve grown closer to my deen and shared parts of my journey with my faith publicly, I have always tried to represent my beautiful religion of Islam with good character, humility and sincerity.
“I have never intentionally said or done anything concerning, worrying or harmful, and if I have ever for any reason made any of you feel uncomfortable through the expression of my religion, I’m sorry, please forgive me. My true intention has only ever been to show the real beauty, peace and values of Islam, the things I myself spent a large portion of my life being blind and ignorant towards.
“‘And he found you lost and guided you’ (Quran 93:7) Alhamdulilah. Justice has been served publicly and I’m thankful that the truth has been acknowledged and my name has been cleared. To my family and my brothers who checked in on me, supported me and made dua for me through this difficult period JazakAllah khair, I love you for the sake of Allah.
“‘The truth has come and falsehood has perished. Indeed, falsehood is bound to perish.’ (Quran 17:81). To The Sun, I have no malice in my heart towards you, or the journalist involved in writing the article. Forgiveness is a staple in my religion. Islam teaches that forgiveness will take you so much further than harbouring hate and anger towards those who have wronged you, and that ultimately God is in control of everything.
“On that basis, I forgive you and I thank you for being complicit, admitting your faults and dealing with this in a moral and ethical manner. ‘Pardon and overlook. Would you not love for Allah to forgive you?’ (Quran 24:22). The Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him said: “Whoever is not merciful to the people, will not be shown mercy by Allah.”
“Lastly, I’d like to give a special show of appreciation to my legal team, Taylor Hampton Solicitors, in particular Daniel Taylor, Jay Joshi, Joshua Maurice and my barrister from Doughty Street Chambers, Mark Henderson.
“None of this would have been possible without them. From start to finish, the professionalism, dedication, intricate attention to detail, communication throughout and execution in this case was nothing short of outstanding. Seriously, they exceeded all of my expectations. True experts in defamation law. Words cannot express how grateful I am for this outcome, which you worked so tirelessly to achieve for me.”
In May, The Sun said they accepted that the allegations had been “entirely false”. They said: “Mr Akhtar has never endorsed or supported any such views and strongly condemns all forms of extremism and violence. He has never been involved in or associated with radicalisation nor has he, as further falsely claimed, moved to Pakistan and undertaken firearms training.”
