British court imposes fine on Pakistani vlogger Raja

ISLAMABAD: Retired major and dissident vlogger Adil Raja has been imposed a fine of 10,000 British pounds by a UK judge in a preliminary hearing of a defamation suit brought against him by a former senior military officer.

Raja was denied by the UK High Court to stay proceedings in the defamation case, with the court seting a trial date for April 2025.

The defamation suit was filed against Youtuber Raja by retired Brigadier Rashid Naseer in August 2022, but was made public this week ater the respondent stirred another controversy in Pakistan over his allegations targeting leading film and TV actresses.

An order issued by the court suggests that Raja’s campaign against Naseer kicked off on June 14, 2022 when the former alleged that he “has taken complete occupation of the Lahore High Court [LHC] ‘to rig the upcoming elections.’”

The order issued last week by the High Court of Justice, King’s bench division in the media and communications list before Richard Spearman KC siting as deputy high court judge details the allegations made by Raja and determines their meaning at the preliminary stage.

It maintains that the case centres on 10 publications, which range from alleging that elections were not proceeding because the claimant (Naseer) had taken complete control of the LHC; that the claimant had several meetings with Asif Ali Zardari during his stay to discuss election manipulation; that the claimant has set up an election cell in the “sector headquarters” of Lahore tasked with gathering progress reports on the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) and Pakistan Muslim League-nawaz (PML-N) candidates and that it is pressuring local influencers against the Pakistan Tehreek-e-insaf (PTI); that the claimant was abusing his position and that the claimant is directly involved in political interference.

The judge held that of the 10 allegations, nine are defamatory of the claimant at common law, and that the words complained of were said as statements of fact. At the trial stage, Raja will have to prove the allegations he made against the claimant.