LONDON: A UK High Court Judge has ruled that the words used by three PTI representatives against Murtaza Ali Shah, London-based correspondent for Geo TV and The News, were defamatory at common law.

At a preliminary trial on the meaning of the defamatory words, High Court Judge, the Honourable Mrs Justice Steyn DBE, sitting at the King’s Bench Division of the Royal Courts of Justice said that, “an allegation that a journalist has knowingly publish false or baseless reports strikes at the heart of their professionalism, and undoubtedly meets both the consensus requirement and the threshold of seriousness.

The statement of opinion that he has been misusing his professional position for his own purposes also meets those requirements. These are serious allegations to make against a professional journalist.“

The case was brought by Mr Shah through his lawyer barrister, Mr Jacob Dean, against PTI leaders Mohammad Imran, Shanaz Saddique and Riaz Hussain, who launched a defamatory social media campaign against the journalist in March 2020.

Published in Dawn, March 14th, 2023