A UK High Court judge rejected all of Raja’s applications including his application to stay a defamation trial progressing against him by Brigadier (retd) Rashid Naseer, while ruling that Raja had published words which were seriously defamatory of Naseer in nine publications on social media sites YouTube, Facebook and Twitter/X.
Deputy High Court Judge Richard Spearman KC ruled that Raja should pay £5,000 to the now-retired brigadier for the rejected application to stay the defamation trial and the judge also ordered Adil Raja to pay a further interim payment on account of costs in the sum of £5,000 for the failed security for costs application. Raja, the defendant, has until 17 April 2024 to pay this money.
With help from his lawyer and PTI UK leader Mahtab Anwar Aziz who also represents PTI activist Shayan Ali, Raja appeared before the court remotely by video link and argued that the case of Brig (retd) Naseer should be stayed on a number of grounds but the court rejected all his arguments which included allegations that Pakistan was an authoritarian state in which the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) controlled the judiciary and the government and allegations of election rigging in Pakistan.
The high court judge ruled that 9 out of the 10 publications published by Raja were defamatory of Naseer at common law and were matters of fact, rather than expressions of opinion. Naseer’s name had surfaced when former PM Imran Khan named him as Mr ‘X’ and made baseless allegations – the allegations Imran and his party stepped back from and failed to prove at any forum.
