Kendall Freeman clears Sheikh's name by pulping terror book

Kendall Freeman’s managing partner Laurence Harris has negotiated an unusual libel settlement by making sure thousands of copies of a book titled “Unknown Soldiers - How Terrorism Transformed the Modern World” are to be pulped.

This method of settlement has only been used three times in the past with Harris and his client, prominent Saudi businessmen Sheikh Khalid Bin Mahfouz, also managing to pulp ‘Reaping the Whirlwind’ in 2004.

Harris, told The Lawyer: “The pulping of books is comparatively unusual, but ‘Unknown Soldiers’ had not as yet been put on sale elsewhere that the UK. Also, with the book having been on release for such a short space of time it meant most copies would still be in warehouses so making pulping an easy choice to solve the issue.”

The Sheikh and his son Sheikh Abdulrahman Bin Mahfouz received a public apology in the high court from the author Matthew Carr and publishers Profile Books for allegations that the pair financed terrorism.

Carr and Profile Books told Mr Justice Tugendhat that they accepted and acknowledged that all of the allegations regarding Sheikh Khalid and Sheikh Abdulrahman supporting terrorism were entirely and manifestly false and they undertook not to repeat them.

The publisher and author also agreed to pay the Saudi businessmen and undisclosed amount in damages and a contribution to their legal costs.

Harris was assisted by associate Antonio Suarez-Martinez for the Mahfouzes, while Martin Soames, of Best & Soames, led for both defendants.