This item is available on the Militant Islam Monitor website, at http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/3386
March 4, 2008
Muslim Weekly" Apologizes to Daniel Pipes
March 3, 2008
PHILADELPHIA – The Muslim Weekly, a London-based publication, issued an apology today to Daniel Pipes, director of the Middle East Forum, concerning a defamatory article it published in February 2007.
That article repeated a false allegation made by Tariq Ramadan that Daniel Pipes had lied to a conference hosted by London mayor Ken Livingstone in January 2007. (For details of what did occur, see the article by Mr. Pipes, "Is Tariq Ramadan Lying [about Magdi Allam]?")
Upon receipt of a libel complaint from Mr. Pipes, the Muslim Weekly accepted that Mr. Pipes spoke accurately at the conference and that he did not lie. The Muslim Weekly apologized to Mr. Pipes for the distress caused by the article. The Muslim Weekly's retraction, published both in print and online in the Feb. 29, 2008 issue, reads in full as follows:
On February 9, 2007, the Muslim Weekly published an article, "World civilisation conference: Professor Tariq Ramadan on Islamic Threat," under the byline of Dr. Mozammel Haque, concerning a speech given by Professor Ramadan on 20 January 2007. We reported that he accused Professor Daniel Pipes, an American specialist on the Middle East, of lying in his speech to the same conference about the religion of an Egyptian Muslim. We now understand that Professor Pipes spoke accurately and that he did not lie. We retract what we wrote about him and apologise to Professor Pipes for any distress caused by our article.
Reacting to this apology, Mr. Pipes said: "I am delighted that Muslim Weekly recognizes there is no truth whatsoever in Tariq Ramadan's allegations concerning my statement at the World Civilization Conference, and that it has forthrightly set the record straight."
Immediate release
For more information, contact Amy Shargel at
215-546-5406, ex. 22
[email protected]
http://www.meforum.org/press/1866
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MIM: Dr. Pipes comments about the apology on his weblog.
A Second Islamist Organization Apologizes to Me
The Middle East Forum sent out a press release today, "Muslim Weekly Apologizes to Daniel Pipes," that provides details on the statement just issued by a London-based publication.
This makes it the second Islamist organization that has apologized to me, and the second one to do so under threat of a law suit. I detailed the prior one in 2005 at "[The Canadian Islamic Congress:] An Islamist Apology," when the CIC took back its calumnies against me, covered my legal expenses, and made a donation in my honor to charity.
So far as I know, these two apologies are without parallel. I hope they become part of a trend, whereby parties that spread false information wrongfully discrediting anti-Islamist writers and activists must publicly retract their libelous statements.
Also, they make up a part of the Legal Project's effort to protect anti-Islamist writers and activists so that we can continue our work pointing out the dangers of radical Islam. As today's news implies, the Project's work must at times go on the offensive to be effective. (March 3, 2008)
This item is available on the Militant Islam Monitor website, at http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/3386