PMLN leader Nasir Butt said that he has won a defamation case against another Pakistani private TV channel SAMAA TV where the court ordered the TV channel to pay Nasir Butt a £35,000 and legal costs.
In a video posted on his Twitter account, Nasir Butt said London High Court Judge Justice Mrs. Heather Williams rejected the stand of the private channel that Nawaz Sharif was sentenced for corruption.
Nasir Butt clarified that he won the case against old management of SAMAA TV when channel made the allegations on 11 July 2019. He said at that time, it was owned by Mian Zafar Siddiqui in Pakistan and Tahir Khan in the U.K.
Nasir Butt clarified that politician and property tycoon Aleem Khan did not buy the channel at that time when SAMAA TV aired allegations against him.
He said case against Samaa TV was based on the fact that the punishment meted out to Mian Nawaz Sharif in the Al-Azizia case was based on the evidence of corruption. But it was contrary to the facts.
The channel was of the view that it aired the news of Nasir Butt, who allegedly threatened and gave bribe to Judge Arshad Malik, in the public interest, because Arshad Malik had given the correct sentence.
Butt said that Judge Justice Mrs. Heather Williams refused to accept this position of the channel and judge accepted his argument that Nawaz Sharif was sentenced wrongly and Nasir Butt made secret video only to expose it.
The judge also accepted Nasir Butt’s stand that he did nothing wrong by making the video of the judge and using it to prove Nawaz Sharif’s innocence.
Nasir Butt told the judge that he did not feel even for a moment that Nawaz Sharif had done anything wrong
“If I had told Judge Arshad Malik that I was filming him, he would never have admitted the mistake, ” argued Nasir Butt before the Judge.
The judge also ordered the TV channel to pay Nasir Butt £35,000 and legal costs.
Butt also previously won cases against three private TV channels, all of which were settled out of court.
This was the first case in which Nawaz Sharif’s punishment, Pakistani politics and Judge Arshad Malik’s video scandal were formally heard the case.
Nasir Butt’s case was formally heard in the London High Court.
The evidence in the case was reviewed by an English judge, the case was decided after a four-year trial.
He said that he British High Court admitted that Nasir Butt did nothing wrong by filming Judge Arshad Malik.
In the video, Judge Arshad Malik was confessing that he had blackmailed Nawaz Sharif and sentenced him to 10 years in the Al-Azizia case.
The lawyers of the channel said that Judge Arshad Malik was an honest person who was allegedly threatened and bribed by Nasir Butt to help Nawaz Sharif.
The judge rejected the arguments of the channel’s lawyers as weak and also expressed displeasure at their constant insistence.
Judge Justice Mrs. Heather Williams pronounced the judgment of the case against private TV on petition of Nawaz Sharif’s close associate Nasir Butt.
Judge Justice Mrs Heather Williams ordered the 36-page judgment
The judge also imposed a ban on the channel that they cannot make allegations against Nawaz Sharif and Nasir Butt.
The judge held that Nasir Butt had been defamed and his reputation damaged by blackmail and false allegations.
During the broadcast, many allegations were made against Nawaz Sharif, Nasir Butt and their associates
Analyst and channel employee Adnan Adil Nasir Butt accused Nasir Butt of threatening the judge and conspiring against Pakistan’s judicial system.
Nasir Butt’s lawyer rejected the channel’s stand and said that the then establishment had sentenced Nawaz Sharif along with the judge.
The judge himself met Nawaz Sharif in Jati Amra and apologized for his actions and said that he had no other choice.
Judge Justice Mrs Heather Williams ruled that it could not be proved that Nasir Butt attempted to offer threats and bribes.
The channel did not even make a reasonable effort to get Nasir Butt’s stand, Judge remarked.
The lawyers for the parties relied on the landmark decision of the London High Court in the case of Mir Shakeel ur Rahman and ARY.
That decision has become a precedent for determining the meaning of defamation in the context of Urdu TV broadcasting, Nasir Butt said.
