Dr Mohammed Asha, who was acquitted of terrorism charges following the Glasgow airport bombing, is suing News Group Newspapers for libel.
Asha is demanding damages for alleged libel and invasion of privacy over two stories that appeared in The Sun which revealed he was working in an NHS casualty ward under his middle name, Dr Jamil.
According to a writ filed at the High Court by lawyers working for Asha, he believed one story that appeared on 10 August last year headed: “Terror case doc works in casualty” claimed there were very strong grounds to suspect that he will be involved in terrorist bomb plots in future and is an ongoing threat to national security.
Dr Asha says the stories and pictures seriously harmed his personal and professional reputations, and left him acutely distressed and traumatised.
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The newspaper story, and a website version, included pictures of him taken covertly on hospital property, he says.
As a result of the danger created by stories, he says, he was offered police protection and the hospital had to ensure he was not the sole doctor on duty at night because of his fear of being attacked at work.
According to the writ, Dr Asha claims he was also asked to leave his rented flat and could no longer live in Shrewsbury because of fears for his safety.
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He also claimed his neurosurgery training programme had been disrupted after three hospitals were reluctant to employ him.
Dr Asha says The Sun declined to name the new location of an Al-Qaeda suspect who had been deported, but revealed his whereabouts with a reckless indifference to his wellbeing.
News Group Newspapers has refused to respond to his claim, he says.
Asha, who now lives in Kings Heath, Birmingham, is seeking aggravated damages for libel and misuse of private information and an injunction banning repetition of the allegations at the centre of his claim.
He is also seeking special damages which he says result from the stories. This includes increased rent of £325 a month, increases in utility bills, travel costs of £420 a month, £2,100 for a car, and salary losses of around £300 a month.
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