Minister pays out to cleric he said backed IS
MICHAEL Fallon has paid thousands of pounds in compensation to a Muslim cleric he accused of supporting Islamic State, it emerged last night.
Suliman Gani launched legal proceedings against the defence secretary for making the claims in a radio interview during the London mayoral contest.
In a letter published yesterday, the Tory Cabinet minister admitted the comments were ‘entirely untrue’ and apologised for the error and causing distress to Mr Gani and his family.
Mr Gani, a former imam at the Tooting Islamic Centre in South London, was named in an attack on Labour’s Sadiq Khan during his campaign to become the capital’s mayor. During a bitter battle for the post, the Tory candidate, Zac Goldsmith, and David Cameron said Mr Khan had shown poor judgment by sharing a platform with Mr Gani nine times.
The Prime Minister, speaking in the House of Commons under parliamentary privilege – which meant he could not be sued for defamation – said Mr Gani supported the terror group and had questionable views about women and gay people.
A spokesman for Mr Cameron conceded afterwards that Mr Gani had supported ‘the creation of an Islamic state’ rather than backing the extremist organisation.
But Mr Fallon repeated the original remarks outside the Commons – which were not protected by parliamentary privilege – and specifi cally referred to Daesh, another name for IS. Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme in May, Mr Fallon described Mr Gani as a supporter of the terror group. In response, Mr Gani’s lawyers sent a defamation claim to Mr Fallon.
In a letter published on his website last night, Mr Fallon said he admitted the comments were ‘entirely untrue’. He said he made them after hearing them on a BBC TV programme some weeks earlier and was unaware that the BBC had later corrected that statement and apologised to Mr Gani.
He said: ‘Had I known of that correction and apology I would not have repeated the statement. I was made aware of the BBC’s correction and apology a few hours after the broadcast and immediately issued a statement in an effort to put the record straight.’
He said he issued a further statement on May 11, which included an apology for repeating the statement.
He added: ‘I accept that you [Mr Gani] are entirely opposed to Daesh/ Islamic State, that you regard it as incompatible with your religious and moral beliefs, and you have spoken out publicly against it. I repeat my apology for the error I made and for the distress that it caused to you and your family.
‘In recognition of that distress I have agreed to make a payment of compensation and to meet your reasonable legal costs.’
The figure paid is understood to be under £10,000.
‘Incompatible with religious beliefs’