A BELFAST solicitor is campaigning against a new law in the United States which would prevent libel awards made in Ireland or Britain being enforced in American courts.
Paul Tweed of Johnsons Solicitors, which has offices in Dublin, Belfast and London, said the law - which the US government says is aimed at combating "libel tourism" - would make people more vulnerable to defamation.
Mr Tweed, who specialises in libel law, has successfully represented a number of celebrities, including Liam Neeson, Jennifer Lopez and Britney Spears.
Mr Tweed has been prepared to sue US-based publications like the National Enquirer and various gossip magazines now publishing European editions if they libel his clients.
US libel law is much more liberal than English and Irish libel law because of the First Amendment to the US Constitution, guaranteeing freedom of speech.
A false and damaging statement published in the US is only regarded as libel if its publication is judged to have been malicious. Under Irish and English libel law a false and damaging statement is libel, and the presence or absence of malice only enters into the calculation of damages.
However, on September 27th last, in the middle of the debate in the US House of Representatives on the economic crisis and the $700 billion bank rescue package, a Bill - entitled the Libel Tourism Bill - aimed at preventing the enforcement of UK and Irish libel judgments in the US, was rushed through without the usual debate in committee stage. The Bill is now before the Senate.
According to Mr Tweed, this Bill was initially entitled the "Libel Terrorism Bill", though there was no reference to terrorism in the actual Bill, which aims to prevent the US courts enforcing judgments that would not be made under US law.
He told The Irish Times that the Bill was the product of lobbying on behalf of an American author, Rachel Ehrenfeld, who had a libel award made against her in London.
An Israeli-born American citizen, Ms Ehrenfeld has been writing about terrorism for about 20 years. After 9/11 she wrote a book called Funding Evil, largely about the financing of al-Qaeda, in which she made reference to the alleged role of Khalid bin Mahfouz, a member of a prominent Saudi banking family, in "the funding of terrorism". He and the Mahfouz family strenuously denied this and asked for a retraction. When Ms Ehrenfeld refused, Mr bin Mahfouz sued in London, on the basis that the book had been bought on the internet and was circulating in the UK.
Ms Ehrenfeld did not appear or enter a defence in the London action and the judge ruled against her. She then sought to have the US state and federal courts refuse to enforce the judgments, but the courts rejected her application.