Former editor of London Bangla tells all about court cases

Nine years ago, events occurred which were to result in legal action being taken against me. I have put my life on hold for half a decade while I defended myself. Now I can tell my story.

Background

In 2010, I was editor of the newspaper London Bangla.  The issue published on Friday, 15th October, just before the first direct election for the mayor of Tower Hamlets, included an advertisement placed by a third party. The advert purported to advertise a meeting at which certain allegations about the Labour Party’s candidate, the then Councillor Helal Abbas, were to be discussed.  The advert was placed at the last minute and some words from the advert concerning the meeting that was supposedly taking place were included, at the last minute, in a round-up article in the newspaper.

On Thursday, 21st October, Lutfur Rahman won the mayoral election, receiving 23,283 votes (51.76% of the votes cast).  The then Councillor Abbas, the Labour Party candidate, received 11,254 votes (25.02% of the votes cast).

Neither the then Cllr Abbas nor the Labour Party made any complaint about the advert or the reference to the meeting at the time or immediately after the election.  In a previous set of elections, the Labour Party had complained about a Liberal Democrat eve of poll leaflet and had distributed a counter leaflet on polling day itself.

The then Cllr Abbas eventually made a complaint to the police and in a formal statement of complaint dated 14th January 2011 he made various allegations about various material published during the election.  As a result of this complaint, there was a police investigation and eventually, the Criminal Prosecution Service (CPS) charged me with two offences under Election law.

The then Cllr Abbas also instructed solicitors to commence libel proceedings against myself and London Bangla.

Now that the libel proceedings have been settled between us, I can comment on the criminal charges laid against me.

CRIMINAL CHARGES

The CPS investigated the then Cllr Abbas’s complaints and eventually charged me with two offences, namely:

Between 15 October and 21 October 2010, Shah Yousef, Editor of the London Bangla Newspaper did publish a false statement before an election in relation to the personal character and conduct of Helal Abbas, the candidate for the Tower Hamlets Mayoral Election.

Contrary to section 106(1) and 169 Representation of the People Act 1983

Between 15 October and 21 October 2010, Shah Yousef, Editor of the London Bangla Newspaper did publish material which could reasonably be regarded as intended to promote or procure the election of a candidate at an election (whether or not it can be regarded as intended to achieve any other purpose as well) being an advertisement contained in a newspaper, the London Bangla, failed to imprint the relevant details.

Contrary to section 110(6) and (9) Representation of the People Act 1983.

The CPS assembled its evidence against me.  A 40 page bundle of witness statements was sent to my solicitor on 4th November 2011 and a hearing date was set for April 2012.  In or about February 2012, the CPS sent an additional witness statement to my solicitor from one of the officers who had investigated the complaints, giving evidence about discussions he had had with Ms Saleha Ali, first wife of the then Cllr Abbas.  The officer stated that Ms Ali had told him that:

“there had been no report of DV made to the police, although she had reported incidents to her GP”

and

“she had never been subject to violence which would have required hospital treatment and said that she was subjected to mental torture rather than anything else.”

On the basis of the first line quoted above, my solicitor asked the CPS to obtain Ms Ali’s GP records and to disclose them to my solicitor so that we could establish what “incidents” Ms Ali had reported to her GP.

However, on 27th March 2012, the CPS faxed a “Notice of Discontinuance” letter to my solicitor, stating that they were discontinuing their prosecution of me because:

“The prosecution has obtained material which now means there is insufficient evidence to provide a realistic prospect of conviction and that it is no longer in the public interest to prosecute the offence.”

I had further correspondence with the CPS and on 18th July 2012 I received a letter from their caseworker stating:

“Shortly before the trial I obtained medical notes of a witness in the case.  This material undermined the prosecution case and caused its discontinuance.”

This confirmed that the “material” which the CPS saw and which caused the discontinuance of the case was the GP records of Ms Saleha Ali.

To sum up:

-Ms Saleha Ali (first wife of the then Cllr Helal Abbas) consistently told the police that she had not been subjected to domestic violence from Cllr Helal Abbas;

-Ms Saleha Ali told the police that she had been subjected to “mental torture” from Cllr Helal Abbas;

-Ms Saleha Ali told the police that she had mentioned “incidents” to her GP;

-the CPS read Ms Ali’s GP records and on the basis of their reading of the GP records they discontinued their case against me.

LIBEL CASE

I received a letter from the then Cllr Abbas’s solicitors in January 2011 alleging that an advert in London Bangla contained libellous material about the then Cllr Abbas.  I wrote back offering to interview Cllr Abbas and print this interview in London Bangla so that he could say what he wished to clear his name.  Cllr Abbas did not reply to this invitation.

Eventually the then Cllr Abbas took out libel proceedings against me and London Bangla Limited, the then publisher of London Bangla. During the course of these proceedings, London Bangla Limited ceased trading and the company was dissolved and the proceedings against them were discontinued.

During the proceedings, Cllr Abbas had legal representation.  His legal costs were capped by the Court at £100,000 up to the end of a full hearing.  I did not have funds to pay for legal representation and for most of the case I did not have legal representatives to help me and I had to defend myself as a litigant in person.

During the proceedings, I applied to the Court for the GP records of Saleha Ali to be disclosed to the parties in the libel case, so that we could see the material that the CPS saw and which persuaded the CPS to drop its case against me.

Ms Ali did not consent to having her GP records disclosed.  I do understand that she wished to keep her records private, but I regret that this material, which the CPS said undermined its case against me, was not made available in the interests of justice.  During this part of the case, I had to serve Court papers on her at her home at 22 Schuster Road, Manchester M14 5PE and as I did so she and Hassan Ali (the son of Ms Ali and the then Cllr Abbas) both spoke to me in a threatening manner (see transcript below).

The question of disclosure went to a hearing before Mr Justice Tugendhat.  Ms Ali was represented by a barrister, who presented legal arguments to the Judge.  I represented myself.  I have had no legal training and I was unable to argue against the legal points the barrister was making or to quote alternatives cases as precedents.  The Court did not grant disclosure of the GP records and the judgement is a matter of public record:
http://www.bailii.org/cgi-bin/markup.cgi?doc=/ew/cases/EWHC/QB/2014/662.html&query=abbas&method=boolean

The libel case was settled between the parties in March 2015.  As part of the settlement, a statement was read out in open court on 12th March 2015 (see below).

The terms of the settlement are that I should pay £15,000 in damages to Mr Abbas and £5,000 toward his costs.

I am sorry that Mr Abbas did not take up my offer that he correct any allegations he felt were inaccurate in January 2011: in that way, this lengthy and costly court case could have been avoided.

I repeat that, in accordance with the statement I made to the Court, I accept that there is no truth in the allegation that Mr Abbas has been or is guilty of domestic violence to his then wife.  It seems that the CPS was not similarly persuaded.

Did someone set me up?

The advertisement was placed anonymously and I do not know who placed it.  Whoever it was left the newspaper and myself open for legal action to be taken against us.  In the mayoral election of October 2010, the newspaper had come out in support of Lutfur Rahman because his selection as a candidate by local members had been over-ruled by Labour’s National Executive Committee. I do not know who wanted to cause trouble for myself and the newspaper by placing this advert and leaving us open to having legal action taken against us.

Points of information

I confirm that, in accordance with the statement which was made to the Court, I believe that the allegation that Mr Helal Abbas beat his first wife during his first marriage was completely untrue.

I can also confirm that, in accordance with the statement which I made to the Court, Mr Helal Abbas has accepted that I was not the author of the advertisement in which the allegation was made.

As the then editor of London Bangla, I had to accept responsibility for publishing the advert and that is why the legal action was taken against myself and against the then publisher of London Bangla.

I sold the title “London Bangla” sometime after this legal action was started.  The newspaper which is currently published under the title “London Bangla” therefore had nothing whatsoever to do with this legal action.

Appendix 1

Transcript of response of Ms Saleha Ali (first wife of the then Cllr Abbas) and Mr Hassan Ali (the son of Ms Ali and the then Cllr Abbas) to having court papers served upon them.

Shah Yousuf: Assalaamu’alaikum (Islamic greeting)

Saleha: No don’t bother me with this.  I’m getting really wound up.

Shah: You can’t ignore this.

Saleha: No I don’t care… coz I will do.

Hassan [interrupts]: Can you go away please…

Saleha: I’ve told the police, I’ve told the police that if I get anything more, I’ve got your registration number…

Hassan: Can you go away please…

Shah: yeah you can…

Hassan: na go away, No, don’t get it out the envelope, go away

Saleha: ….don’t want nothing through the door. I’ve told the police and I’ve told you…

Shah: You can’t disobey this Order…

Hassan: It doesn’t matter, put it in the thing, get away, we’ll deal with it in our own way… you put it in the envelope… you put it in the envelope…

Saleha: get his registration number down…

Hassan: I’ve got his address…

Shah: it’s a court order

Hassan: it doesn’t matter about court order

(Three talking over each other)

Saleha: Are you Bengali? (Bengali)

Shah: yes yes (Bengali)

Hassan: we’ll deal with it ourselves.

Saleha: I don’t need this stress yeh, I’ve told the police…

Shah: I’m not doing anything here

Hassan: it doesn’t matter

Saleha: my father died three months ago (shah replied- that’s nothing to do with me), I told the police… listen, listen (Bengali)… I don’t need this shit anymore; (Hassan: Get out of our door way)…  if my dad was alive he would slit your throat (Shah: I hear what you’re saying, but I’ve got nothing to do with…)… and chop your head off…who sent you? (Bengali)

Shah: it is from court… you can read it and see… (Hassan: Can you just get out… get out… move… move now)

Saleha (to Hassan): Get in…

Saleha: if my father was alive, nothing like this would’ve happened. I’m gonna phone him now (lawyer)

Shah: you can phone him and see, it’s court order…

Saleha: Just say I didn’t accept it.  Hassan, leave it now

Hassan: Get out the way now., Go away. (Faint) what you’ve got to do.  Get in your car, man.

 

Statement read in open court on 12th March 2015

I am glad to tell you that Mr Shah now recognises that the allegation that Mr Abbas at any stage beat his wife or was guilty of any violence during his first marriage was completely untrue.

Mr Abbas felt that he had no alternative but to issue proceedings against the London Bangla and Mr Shah following the publication of the advertisement which I have summarised.

Mr Shah was the author of the story reporting the advertisement, however, as Mr Abbas accepts, he was not the author of the advertisement, albeit that he was the editor of the London Bangla at that time and accepted it for publication. Mr Abbas felt that he had no alternative but to commence proceedings against London Bangla Limited and Mr Shah.

I am happy to tell your Lordship that Mr Shah now accepts that there is no true in the allegation that Mr Abbas had been guilty of any form of domestic violence against his then wife. He has agreed to join in the making of this Statement in open court.

Mr Shah

“I should tell your Lordship that the allegation of which Mr Abbas complains was contained in an advertisement which was published in the London Bangla. I played no part in the composition of the advertisement but I recognise that as the editor of the London Bangla I must accept responsibility for what was published in the advertisement and for my reporting of the content of the advertisement.

I recognise that there was no true in the allegation that Mr Abbas has beaten or is guilty of domestic violence to his then wife. I apologise to him for the damage to his reputation.

I have agreed to pay damages to him and to make a contribution to his legal costs.