“His barrister Clive Evatt QC today showed the four-person jury a series of articles published by The Daily Telegraph on April 20, 2002, which branded Mr Habib a suburban terrorist.
“Mr Evatt said the front page story and other ‘hard-hitting’ articles inside the paper made ‘dreadful allegations’ about Mr Habib, which he argued were defamatory.
“‘We say an ordinary, reasonable reader looking at the whole thing…will come to the conclusion that what the Telegraph are really saying is that he is a suburban terrorist,’ Mr Evatt said.
“Another opinion piece by Daily Telegraph columnist Piers Ackerman published on February 15, 2005, shortly after Mr Habib’s release from Guantanamo Bay, criticised Mr Habib’s claims he made in a TV interview that he was tortured while held prisoner by US authorities.
“Mr Evatt said the piece suggested Mr Habib had lied about being tortured, suggested he was a fundraiser for international terrorists and a would-be recruiter of fighters for the Jihad.”
The media is not fond of taking responsibility for what it publishes. Habib was released from Guantanamo Bay, never charged with any offence and allegedly tortured while in custody. The press loves labelling anybody accused by the West as a “terrorist.” The word has become almost as meaningless as being called a “communist.” Perhaps the Murdoch press would like to present evidence that those scrupulous US authorities must have missed.