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Pakistan PM Imran Khan’s Ex-Wife Reham Khan Wins Defamation Case In UK High Court

Reham Khan, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s former wife, has won ample damages along with receiving an apology from a Pakistani news channel over the defamatory allegations by a government minister during a show last year.

Imran Khan’s Ex-Wife Reham Khan Wins Defamation Case

On Monday, at a hearing in the High Court in London, Justice Matthew Nicklin had been informed about the apology and undisclosed damages agreed between the parties.

Reham Khan who is a British national of Pakistani-origin launched the legal proceedings over a broadcast entitled ‘On the Front with Kamran Shahid’ on Dunya TV back in June 2018. Reportedly, she said that Sheikh Rasheed, the current Federal Minister of Railways in Pakistan, made very serious and entirely false allegations against her during the show.

Alex Cochrane from Hamlins LLP, who represented Reham Khan in the Royal Courts of Justice in London said, “The most serious allegation that he made was to claim that our client had colluded with her ex-husband’s political rivals, the Pakistan Muslim League, and accepted a substantial payment from or on behalf of its leader, Mr. Shehbaz Sharif, in return for writing her autobiography.”

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He further added, “Dunya TV has now made a full and unequivocal public apology to our client and it has accepted that she never received any payments from Mr. Shehbaz Sharif or anyone in the Pakistan Muslim League for her book. Dunya TV has also given an undertaking not to repeat these false allegations about our client and they have paid her substantial damages and all her legal costs.”

The court heard that during the telecast last year, a journalist and broadcaster compared Reham Khan to a historical Pakistani female figure known as “Budhan Bai”, who was a well-known courtesan, as a part of a series of “slurs” upon her reputation.

Dunya TV that is a 24-hour Urdu language news and current affairs television channel that has a licence to broadcast in the UK, said that it accepts that the allegations made by the guest commentator, Sheikh Rasheed, were “wholly untrue”.

The court order said, “The Defendant (Dunya News Limited) accepts that there was and is no truth in the allegations advanced during the broadcast and is happy to set the record straight and apologise to the Claimant (Reham).”

In the wake of the broadcast last year, Reham Khan had also complained to the UK’s media watchdog, the Office of Communications (OFCOM). The complaint had been upheld by OFCOM.

At the conclusion of her legal battle, she said, “I am glad that justice has finally prevailed. It took me a long legal battle to prove my innocence and the fact that I was victimised and defamed by Dunya and several other news channels for business and political gains”.

She further added, “It’s hurtful that sections of Pakistani media and politicians linked with PTI (Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf) made false allegations knowing well that these allegations lacked any truth. I hope that my victory and vindication serves as a catalyst for ethical journalism and honest politics in Pakistan.”

 

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