April 3, 2017

The case arose from a campaign of street protest, online publication, and sticker distribution conducted in 2014. The campaign involved targeting three individuals and denouncing them as murderers, responsible for the torture, drugging, beating and sexual assault of a young woman, Anastasiya Novikova, and her subsequent death, in Beirut, in 2004. The claimant, Issam Salah Hourani, was one of the three targets of the campaign. The others were Mr Hourani’s brother, Devincci Hourani, and Rakhat Aliyev, Mr Hourani’s brother-in-law.

The fifth defendant, Dr Waller, organised and directed the campaign. He did so for money, on the instructions of one or more third parties whose identities were not revealed. The first and second defendants, Alistair Thomson and Bryan McCarthy were recruited and paid to help Dr Waller.

The campaign involved two street demonstrations in London, at which individuals who were paid to attend held up banners and placards and shouted slogans. The campaign also involved online publications made via social media, including edited recordings of the demonstrations. Further, from about late October 2014, stickers were distributed in the London SW1 area, in the vicinity of Mr Hourani’s home. This was all done anonymously or pseudonymously.

In December 2014 Mr Hourani issued proceedings for libel and harassment contrary to the Protection from Harassment Act 1997.

Mr Justice Warby found that Dr Waller was indeed responsible for all aspects of the campaign, which amounted to harassment contrary to the 1997 Act. Dr Waller should have been aware that his conduct amounted to harassment. The course of conduct was not pursued for the purpose of preventing or detecting crime, nor was it reasonable in all the circumstances.

The truth of the allegations against Mr Hourani was not established. The allegations of murder were untenable. The campaign that Dr Waller directed was a highly unreasonable one, which required a remedy. Dr Waller himself was therefore liable to Mr Hourani for harassment. Mr Hourani was therefore entitled to damages for harassment, and to an injunction to restrain further harassment by publication of the same or similar allegations.

Further, the online publications were defamatory and caused serious harm to Mr Hourani’s reputation. They were not defensible on the basis of the public interest defence. Mr Hourani was therefore entitled to damages for both libel and harassment, and an injunction on both counts.

Distribution of the stickers also involved a course of conduct that amounted to harassment of Mr Hourani. Warby J awarded compensation of £80,000 and injunctions restraining the defendants from any further libellous or harassing action. (Issam Salah Hourani v Alistair Thomson [2017] EWHC 432 (QB) (10 March 2017) — to read the judgment in full, click here).