LONDON: A London High Court has ruled against former serviceman-turned YouTuber Major (retd) Adil Raja in a defamation case filed by former ISI Brigadier (retd) Rashid Naseer.
The court’s declared Adil Raja’s allegations to be false and defamatory.
The UK court ordered Adil Raja to pay £50,000 (around Rs20 million) in damages and an additional £300,000 (around Rs110 million) in legal costs — totalling nearly Rs130 million. Raja was also directed to issue a public apology, pledge not to repeat the claims, and publish a summary of the court’s verdict across all his media platforms confirming that the allegations were false.
The case was heard between June 22 and 27 this year before Judge Richard Spearman KC, who ruled that Raja’s nine defamatory publications on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube had damaged the reputation of Brig (retd) Naseer.
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Raja had accused Naseer of manipulating the Lahore High Court, rigging elections, bribing politicians, using the police against PTI candidates, and engaging in horse-trading for former army chief Gen (retd) Qamar Javed Bajwa. He also alleged that Naseer had become a billionaire due to his alleged role in regime change.
The court rejected all of Raja’s claims, saying they were baseless, unsubstantiated and highly defamatory. It also dismissed Raja’s reliance on the late journalist Arshad Sharif’s fact-finding report, saying the report did not implicate the ISI in Sharif’s murder.
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Judge Spearman noted that none of Raja’s three witnesses — Shaheen Sehbai, Shehzad Akbar and Syed Akbar Hussain — could substantiate any claims of corruption.
He further observed that Raja’s witnesses were inconsistent and failed to address the main issue.
In his reaction, Brig (retd) Rashid Naseer said the verdict was a reminder that “truth always prevails over lies — in Pakistan or anywhere else. Those who spread poison and chaos for personal gain cannot defend their actions in any court of law. This is not just my victory, but a victory for all who have been maliciously targeted by such falsehoods.”