UK court rejects Shehbaz Sharif’s plea in defamation case against Daily Mail, issues ‘unless order’

Major progress was witnessed in the defamation case against the British publication Daily Mail and its journalist David Rose filed by Shehbaz Sharif as the UK court rejected his plea for indefinite postponement and issued an ‘unless order’.

PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif had sent a legal notice to British publication The Mail on Sunday and online news site Mail Online, and its journalist David Rose, about an article published in July 2019, alleging he and his family stole millions and laundered it to their bank accounts.

In its defence, the newspaper publisher Associated Newspapers Limited had submitted its 50-page response as the evidence it relied on to substantiate its story in March this year.

However, Shehbaz’s legal team kept asking for deferment of the hearings from the UK’s High Court of Justice but the relief ended up yesterday and an ‘unless order’ was issued, said the journalist and vlogger Irfan Hashmi from Britain.

Irfan Hashmi highlighted some key points of the hearing conducted by the UK’s High Court of Justice in Shehbaz Sharif’s defamation case against the British publication in his vlog and tweets.

وزیراعظم پاکستان مصروف ہیں، جواب کےلئے مزید وقت دیا جائے، وکلا
میری عدالت میں وزیراعظم اور عام آدمی برابر ہیں۔
جسٹس میتھیو نیکلن کا تاریخی جواب
Complete videohttps://t.co/NLz1dBVBfp pic.twitter.com/ExLYL2jlvv

— Irfan Hashmi (@IrfanHashmiUK) November 10, 2022

In his Twitter thread, Hashmi said that there has been an important development in the defamation case brought by Sharif against the Daily Mail UK.

He said that at a hearing in the High Court in London, Sharif’s lawyers, and those representing his son-in-law Imran Ali Yousaf, asked for a stay – an indefinite postponement – in the pending defamation trial, however, Justice Nicklin refused their request.

Hashmi added, “At one stage, it was suggested that as the PM of Pakistan, Sharif was a very busy man and so it might take longer for him to focus on the case, and the judge said “in this courtroom the PM is a Claimant like anyone else”.

“As things stand, there will be a case management conference – a pre-trial hearing – in the court in January, and a trial in October. But that isn’t all,” the journalist said.

Recalling the previous development, the journalist said that the British publication had submitted a detailed defence to the defamation claims a few months ago, adding, “It insists the article was true and cites evidence to support this claim. The next step for Sharif and Yousaf was to submit a written reply to try to refute it.”

However, the reply was not submitted to the UK court as yet and the lawyers were continuously seeking adjournment of the hearings.

Hashmi said, “They asked for several extensions of time before finally doing so some weeks ago. But according to Mr Justice Nicklin, their replies did not “comply” with the requirements under English law. They failed to challenge the substance of the defence. So the judge has issued what is called an ‘unless order'”

The journalist, while detailing the sensitivity of the ‘unless order’, said, “This means that unless they come up with new replies that do comply with the requirements, the case will be “struck out”. This means it will fail totally and they will have to pay all the Mail’s costs.”

“The judge also ordered them to pay the Mail’s costs for yesterday’s hearing, which will run to thousands of pounds. If they decide to drop the case and simply walk away, they will then too have to pay all the Mail’s costs. Their choice now is to do that or somehow challenge the Mail’s defence, point by point.”

He added, “And if their new replies are accepted and the trial goes ahead, it is likely they will have to give sworn evidence – and face cross-examination on the allegations by the Mail’s barrister.”

Hashmi raised questions about Shehbaz Sharif’s reason for his sudden visit to Britain after Egypt alongside consultation sessions with the PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif.

He tweeted, “Is this the real reason @CMShehbaz came to London? It does seem possible. In any event, for him, yesterday’s hearing represents two significant defeats. He lost his application for a stay and his reply to the defence was rejected. He may find this politically uncomfortable.

There has been an important development in the case brought by @CMShehbaz over the article alleging he and his family stole millions and laundered it to bank accounts they controlled by @DavidRoseUK in the Mail on Sunday.

— Irfan Hashmi (@IrfanHashmiUK) November 10, 2022

According to the journalist, PM Sharif is now expected to face a penalty from the UK court if he fails to comply with the order and he will be bound to pay Daily Mail’s legal costs. He said that PM Sharif loses the chance to further seek adjournment of the hearings from the UK court.

In his vlog, he also pointed out that the UK court’s order also exposed the quality of trials in Pakistani courts where elites and top public office-bearers easily manage to get relief in the shape of adjournments and exemption from personal appearances in the hearings.