GB News has paid “substantial” libel damages to a UK charity after airing false claims it had sent money to terrorist groups in the Middle East.
Islamic Relief, a Muslim humanitarian charity, said GB News had given “a platform to serious allegations which are not only totally untrue but run contrary to the core principles on which we operate”.
The settlement related to a comment made by an interviewee described as a “political strategist and analyst” on The Camilla Tominey Show on GB News on 16 February.
The interviewee told Tominey that “Islamic Relief, for instance, is registered as a charity here, but all the way in Saudi Arabia in UAE and other countries it is banned because of the investigation that showed that this charity is sending money all the way to some terrorist groups in the Middle East”.
GB News already published an apology on its website in September about a month after making an offer of settlement, acknowledging the allegation was untrue. An apology was also broadcast on The Camilla Tominey Show.
The broadcaster agreed to remove the broadcast and associated clips/articles from its website and social media platforms.
GB News also agreed to pay substantial damages and costs.
To close the case a statement was read in the High Court by a solicitor for Islamic Relief on Wednesday.
Dominic Garner told Mr Justice Nicklin that “such an allegation is wholly and categorically false. Islamic Relief has not engaged in, or in any way facilitated, the sending of money to any terrorist group or entity”.
A spokesperson for the charity said: “Given that our own humanitarian workers have themselves been killed by terrorists, these allegations are particularly offensive and deeply troubling. They perpetuate disinformation that not only threatens the lives of our colleagues, but also our beneficiaries.”
Garner added that Islamic Relief is “satisfied that it has secured proper vindication and that the record has been corrected”.
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