Cases

Al Rajhi Banking & Investment Corp v Wall Street Journal Europe

Facts

The defendant published an article reporting that the accounts of a number of Saudi businesses, including those of the claimant bank, were being monitored by the Saudi central bank, SAMA, at the request of US law-enforcement agencies "in a bid to prevent them being used wittingly or unwittingly for the funneling of funds to terrorist organisations". In response to the bank's claim for libel the defendant's principal defence was Reynolds qualified privilege. Shortly before the trial date the defendant applied for permission to amend to add a plea of justification principally directed at justifying a meaning that the bank "and/or its executives and/or members of the family had in the past had associations with institutions or persons suspected of or with a reputation for links to terrorism or potential terrorist ties".

Also