Support Our Work Mailing list About / Contact

UK: Sarfraz Najeib launches civil proceedings

01 March 2002

Support our work: become a Friend of Statewatch from as little as £1/€1 per month.

Sarfraz Najeib, the young Asian student who was brutally beaten by a racist gang has taken out a civil action against Leeds United footballer, Lee Bowyer. Bowyer was found not guilty of grievous bodily harm at Hull Crown Court in December. The judge ordered him to pay costs, exceeding £1 million, because he had lied to the police about his role. The Najeib family have said that they will launch similar claims against Jonathan Woodgate and two other men convicted for their roles in the attack. Also in April the Daily Mirror newspaper appeared in court to explain why they published an article, on 8 April last year, which caused the collapse of the first trial of the Leeds United players and their friends. The Attorney General prosecuted the tabloid after it ignored the instructions of Safraz's father and published an interview with him, in which he contradicted the judge's ruling that there was no racist motivation for the attack. They ran the story while the jury was deliberating. The retrial cost £1.1 million. Senior executives at the newspaper have continually refused to explain this "appalling breach of trust" and have yet to apologise to the family. The paper was fined £75,000 and costs of £130,000.

Guardian 20.4.02.

Our work is only possible with your support.
Become a Friend of Statewatch from as little as £1/€1 per month.

 Previous article

UK: Klan man jailed

Next article 

UK: Chinese monitoring group launched

 

Spotted an error? If you've spotted a problem with this page, just click once to let us know.

Report error

Statewatch does not have a corporate view, nor does it seek to create one, the views expressed are those of the author. Statewatch is not responsible for the content of external websites and inclusion of a link does not constitute an endorsement. Registered UK charity number: 1154784. Registered UK company number: 08480724. Registered company name: The Libertarian Research & Education Trust. Registered office: MayDay Rooms, 88 Fleet Street, London EC4Y 1DH. © Statewatch ISSN 1756-851X. Personal usage as private individuals "fair dealing" is allowed. We also welcome links to material on our site. Usage by those working for organisations is allowed only if the organisation holds an appropriate licence from the relevant reprographic rights organisation (eg: Copyright Licensing Agency in the UK) with such usage being subject to the terms and conditions of that licence and to local copyright law.

About | Contact | Privacy Policy