A prominent author writes a book on the controversial subject of funding Islamist terrorism. In the course of the book, the name of a prominent Saudi banking family claimed to be involved in the funding of terrorism is exposed.

In an effort to silence any discussion on the subject, members of the Saudi family commence a defamation lawsuit in London, the “libel tourism capital of the world”. The English High Court, presided by Justice Eady, the same judge who has a rather ignominious track record for finding in favor of defamation suit plaintiffs, then determines that the sale of a mere 23 copies of the book through UK online retailers and the availability of the first chapter on an ABC website was sufficient to grant jurisdiction to the English court.  

Having secured jurisdiction in England where the burden is upon the defendant to prove that defamatory allegations are true (as opposed to the US where the burden is upon the plaintiff to prove falsity), members of the Saudi family are awarded money damages and an injunction against further publication of the book.

The above recounts the true story of one of the numerous lawsuits commenced by the Bin Mahfouz family in the wake of the publication in 2003 of Funding Evil: How Terrorism is Financed – and How to Stop It authored by Rachel Ehrenfeld an internationally recognized counterterrorism expert.