Daily Telegraph
17 July 2009

The Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain accepted £45,000 damages from the BBC on Thursday over a claim on Question Time that he condoned the kidnapping and killing of British soldiers.

Dr Muhammad Abdul Bari had brought libel proceedings in London's High Court over a broadcast in March.

His solicitor-advocate, Adam Tudor, told Mr Justice Eady a member of the public asked the panel about controversial protests that month by a group of Muslim men against a regiment of British troops parading in Luton on their return from Iraq.

In reply, a panellist suggested that despite having been asked many times to condemn the kidnapping and killing of British soldiers, Dr Bari had failed to do so and thereby implicitly condoned such acts.

The panellist further suggested Dr Bari believed the kidnapping and killing of British soldiers to be a good and Islamic thing.

Mr Tudor said that, although Dr Bari was not actually mentioned by name, the "leadership" of the MCB was referred to, implicitly referring to him in his capacity as leader and chief spokesman of the MCB.

Mr Tudor said the BBC accepted that these allegations were untrue - in fact in 2007, Dr Bari said publicly that the killing of British troops in Iraq was unacceptable.

Robert Brosgill, solicitor for the BBC, which has agreed to pay Dr Bari damages - and which he will donate to charity - and his legal costs, apologised unreservedly.