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A tip of the hat to Allan in our New York ACT chapter for spotting this. Both he and I know one of the co-authors of this New York Post opinion piece, attorney Samuel Abady. I had exchanged emails with Abady in my activist days as a resident in the greater New York area.
Abady is a practicing criminal-defense and civil-rights lawyer in Manhattan, while Silverglate is a criminal-defense and civil-liberties lawyer in Boston.
Abady and Silberglate are championing the passage of the Libel Terrorism Reform Act pending in both the New York Assembly and Senate. ACT has been in the vanguard of urging passage and enactment of this important counter terrorism and first amendment rights legislation. The title of the New York Post opinion piece, “Rachel’s Law” refers to intrepid Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld, ace financial terrorist sleuth of the American Center for Democracy, whose book, “Funding Evil” was at the center of the tourist libel action by wealthy Saudi Businessman Sheik Khalid bin Mahfouz in the London law courts summary judgment decision against her. What ensued over the past three years has been a veritable swirl of Federal court and ultimately the New York State Appeals Court decision of last December. That narrow decision by the New York Court of Appeals suggested that only remedial legislation would protect the First Amendment rights of Dr. Ehrenfeld, most US writers and publishers from foreign legal actions by Saudis seeking to muzzle the truth about their nefarious terrorist financial dealings.
According to Abady and Silberglate, here is how the proposed “Libel Terrorism Reform Act” protects Dr. Ehrenfeld, other US authors and many publishers:
Their bill would empower New York courts to assert jurisdiction over anyone who obtains a foreign libel judgment against a New York publisher or writer - and limit enforcement to those judgments that satisfy “the freedom of speech and press protections guaranteed by both the United States and New York Constitutions.”
In effect, this renders all foreign libel judgments unenforceable in New York, as no court outside the United States abides by our First Amendment protections.
Abady and Silberglate have these telling arguments to arouse New York State legislators to pass these bills and send the” Libel Terrorism Reform Act” to Governor Eliot Spitzer desk in Albany for signature. To wit:
But this bill, if it becomes law, will do more than protect our precious First Amendment freedoms in New York. It also will serve as a template for action by Congress - and attract foreign counterterrorism scholars and journalists to our shores.
Americans certainly differ about how to fight terrorism but can all agree that we can’t protect our way of life without a free press. As Rory Lancman put it: “The ability of our journalists, authors and press to expose . . . the truth is the most important weapon we have in the War on Terror.”
Bravo to Attorneys Abady and Silberglate, Brava to our friend and ally, Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld.
by Samuel A. Abady and Harvey Silberglate, New York Post, February 25, 2008
A critical First Amendment bill, the “Libel Terrorism Reform Act” is pending in both houses of the state Legislature. It was written in direct response to the Court of Appeals’ decision in the case of Ehrenfeld v. bin Mahfouz.
Rachel Ehrenfeld is an Israeli-American terrorism scholar and internationally recognized counterterrorism expert. In her book “Funding Evil: How Terrorism Is Financed and How to Stop It,” she identified Khalid bin Mahfouz, banker to the Saudi royal family and one of the world’s richest men, as a leading terrorism financier.
Ehrenfeld cites government documents as evidence for these particulars:
* As far back as 1996, French, British and US intelligence believed bin Mahfouz had erected a banking system to benefit Osama bin Laden.
* Bin Mahfouz’s bogus Muwafaq (Blessed Relief) “charitable foundation” fronted for several other terror groups, including Makhtab al-Khidamat, al Qaeda, Hamas and Abu-Sayyaf. The “charity’s” head was Yassin al-Qadi, later designated by the State and Treasury Departments as an international terrorist.
