Former Libyan Prime Minister, Fayez Al-Sarraj has filed a £300,000 ($366,000) libel suit against the UK-based “The Mirror” Newspaper’s owners. He alleged that the outlet portrayed him as a key part of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi‘s regime. He also claimed that the newspaper previously defamed him in a July 2021 article titled “Bitcoin scam brothers ‘behind biggest con in history’ buy citizenship in the island”.
The article, according to Al-Sarraj’s claim, wrongly stated that the latter was the Prime Minister under Gaddafi, and listed him alongside an Italian businessman who was accused of extorting €15 million euros ($16 million) from the Vatican.
The Mirror amended the story a year later, removing the reference to Gaddafi, and adding a note at the bottom stating that Al-Sarraj has no connection to the former regime.
The Former PM claimed that the article caused “serious damage to his reputation, distress, humiliation, hurt, injury to feelings, and embarrassment. The imputation presented the claimant as the linchpin of that regime, which is particularly notorious in the UK, not only for the brutal suppression and exploitation of the Libyan people, but also for orchestrating murder and terror in and above the UK.”
Al-Sarraj went on to state that being associated with Gaddafi was all the more hurtful and distressing, as he had dedicated himself to attempting to rebuild the country, and repair the deep wounds caused by the former regime.
He noted that he has experienced “a rise in unwanted attention and threatening behaviour,” including being followed and photographed in public, and is now anxious about visiting the UK.
He is seeking £300,000 in damages, costs, and an injunction forcing the newspaper to take down the alleged defamation or any similar statements.
Libya has been in chaos since a NATO-backed uprising toppled longtime leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. The county has for years been split between rival administrations, each backed by rogue militias and foreign governments.
The current stalemate grew out of the failure to hold elections in December, and the refusal of Prime Minister Abdel-Hamid Dbaiba, who led the transitional government, to step down. In response, the country’s eastern-based Parliament appointed a rival Prime Minister, Fathi Bashagha, who has for months sought to install his government in Tripoli.
