The publisher of the Daily Mail and Metro has agreed to pay substantial libel damages to a Loose Women panellist and her husband over articles that falsely suggested they showed “support for terrorism or hatred of Jews”.
ITV Loose Women panellist Nadia Sawalha and her husband, director and producer Mark Adderley, have secured full apologies from Associated Newspapers, which acknowledged the allegations were untrue.
The online articles, published by the Daily Mail on 30 April and Metro on 8 May, alleged that Adderley had shared videos celebrating the “courage” of Hamas, as well as promoted conspiracy theories blaming Jewish people for the 11 September attacks and the Bondi Beach shooting.
The articles suggested Sawalha shared the same views.
The Daily Mail article was headlined: “Loose Women star Nadia Sawalha claims ‘dark forces’ are at work after husband suspended from the Green Party over ‘antisemitic’ Youtube rant”.
The Metro article was headlined: “Nadia Sawalha hits back at ‘lies’ after Loose Women axe claims”.
As part of the settlement, Associated Newspapers agreed to pay both “substantial” damages and legal costs.
Both Daily Mail and Metro published full corrections and apologies acknowledging that the allegations were false.
[Read more: Dale Vince wins damages on appeal over ‘unfair’ Daily Mail headline juxtaposition]
Both corrections stated that the original articles said “Mark Adderley had shared videos celebrating the ‘courage’ of Hamas as well as conspiracy theories blaming Jews for the September 11 and Bondi Beach attacks.
“While Mr Adderley does have strong views about Israel and Zionism, he did not make these statements suggesting support for terrorism or hatred of Jews.
“The article also said that Mr Adderley and his wife, Ms Sawalha, run a Youtube channel, and that Ms Sawalha fully supported her husband, which may have suggested that she endorsed the statements and videos wrongly said to have been shared by him.
“These allegations were false and we apologise to Mr Adderley and Ms Sawalha for the error and distress caused.”
‘Serious and damaging allegations’
In a joint statement, Sawalha and Adderley said: “To be wrongfully accused of something as heinous and criminal as celebrating the Hamas atrocities of October 7th was unforgivable and put us and our family in danger.
“This apology and retraction from The Daily Mail is a victory for every person who has stood up against the genocide and been hounded and smeared for doing so. It proves just how important it is to push back against a legacy media that will go to any lengths to try and destroy lives and reputations with false accusations.
“To characterise criticism of Israel, Netanyahu or Zionism as anti-Semitic is quite simply wrong. Zionism is a political ideology and Netanyahu has an ICC warrant out for his arrest for allegedly committing war crimes and crimes against humanity. To target us and so many others for daring to speak up against these atrocities is shameful.
“As ever … Free Palestine. Thank you once again to our lawyers.”
Zillur Rahman, of Rahman Lowe Solicitors who acted on the couple’s behalf, said: “These were serious and damaging allegations which falsely suggested that our clients supported terrorism and promoted antisemitic conspiracy theories for simply calling out Israeli war crimes, and opposing Zionism.
“Our clients have consistently opposed racism in all its forms. We are pleased that both publishers have now accepted the falsity of these claims, issued public apologies, and agreed to pay substantial damages.”
[Read more: Sun pays damages to Coronation Street actor over false Islamic extremism story]
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