Ali v Nationwide News Pty Limited [2007] NSWSC 58

New South Wales Supreme Court

CITATION : Ali v Nationwide News Pty Limited [2007] NSWSC 58

HEARING DATE(S) : 5-8/02/07

JUDGMENT DATE : 15 March 2007

JUDGMENT OF : James J at 1

CATCHWORDS : Newspaper - defamation - damages

LEGISLATION CITED : Defamation Act 1974; Defamation Act 2005;

Broome v Cassell (1972) AC 1027; Carson v John Fairfax & Sons Limited (1993) 178 CLR 44; Clark v Ainsworth (1996) 40 NSWLR 463; CASES CITED : Jones v Dunkel (1959) 101 CLR 298 Triggell v Pheeney (1951) 82 CLR 497; Rogers v Nationwide News Pty Limited (2003) 216 CLR 327; State of New South Wales v Riley (2002-2003) 57 NSWLR 496

PARTIES : Romzi Ali v Nationwide News Pty Limited

FILE NUMBER(S) : SC 20154/04

COUNSEL : T Molomby SC/RKM Rasmussen - Plaintiff TD Blackburn SC/JO Hmelnitsky - Defendant

SOLICITORS : Public Interest Advocacy Centre Inc - Plaintiff Black Dawson Waldron - Defendant

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF NEW SOUTH WALES COMMON LAW DIVISION

JAMES J

Thursday 15 March 2007

20154/04 Romzi ALI v NATIONWIDE NEWS PTY LIMITED

JUDGMENT 1 HIS HONOUR: These are proceedings in defamation by the plaintiff Romzi Ali against the defendant Nationwide News Pty Limited, which is the publisher of the Australian Newspaper. The matter complained of consisted of two articles and an editorial in the Australian Newspaper of 11 June 2003, a newspaper having a wide circulation in New South Wales and in other parts of Australia. 2 The first article, which appeared at the top of page 1 of the newspaper and which became exhibit A in the proceedings, was in the following terms:- "Second airport terror link 'He asked nicely always, but I think people knew it was better to give money' Australian Indonesian Community Source A MEMBER of a violent Indonesian group with suspected links to Jemaah Islamiah and al-Qa'ida has been actively fundraising in Sydney for 'jihad', while working as a shuttle bus driver at Sydney airport. The Australian understands the man, who is known as Dance Darmince but often uses the alias Mohammad Darimi, heads a small group of Laskar Jihad members in Sydney and has been co-ordinating their fundraising efforts for the past five years. Mr Darmince is an Australian citizen and has lived in Sydney's Lakemba for about 20 years. From about 1999, he drove airport shuttle buses transporting passengers to, from and around Sydney airport for private shuttle bus company Kingsford Smith Transport. The company confirmed yesterday that Mr Darmince had been employed under his alias, Mohammad Darimi. It said that after on-and-off employment for more than four years, he had quit in November. The revelation follows the news that Bilal Khazal, a man whom the CIA says is affiliated with Osama bin Laden, worked as a Qantas baggage handler at the airport in the lead-up to the Sydney Olympics. Transport unions said yesterday his employment high-lighted lax security at airports. Mr Khazal told the Nine Network last night that he was innocent and the CIA had wrongly named him as an al-Qa'ida operative. But 'like any Muslim', he said, he believed bin Laden was a good man. He argued that the US and Israel were behind the September 11 attacks and the Bali bombing. Mr Darmince's former boss, KST manager John Koolman, said Mr Darmince had had access to public areas only, and before being hired had been asked for his driver's licence and an authority from the NSW Department of Transport, which included a police check. A source within the Sydney Indonesian community told The Australian Mr Darmince, and occasionally other men, visited Indonesian people at home and asked them for money to 'help with their jihad and the fighting in the Malukus'. 'He asked nicely always, but I think people knew it was better to give money', said the source. He said Mr Darmince travelled regularly from Sydney to Indonesia. He was in Australia last month, but had since returned to Indonesia. 'Laskar Jihad have the same purpose as JI', one source said. 'They both want an Islamic state (in Indonesia) but Laskar Jihad is much more radical than JI – (they are) much scarier people who don't worry at all about doing killings'. It is understood Australian security agencies have been closely monitoring Laskar Jihad in Australia for several years. The group is thought to be responsible for the death of thousands of Christians in Ambon, the capital of the Maluku Islands, and is believed to have loose links with al-Qa'ida and Jemaah Islamiah. The Australian has also been told Romzi Ali, the secretary of the Dee Why Mosque at the centre of a power struggle with JI in the late 1990's, was also raising money for Laskar Jihad operations in 2000. Mr Ali denies he ever helped raise money for Laskar Jihad and says he only helped to collect funds for hospitals and orphans – Christian or Muslim. While there is a widespread belief among some terror experts that Laskar Jihad disbanded around the time of the Bali bombings, the Australian National University's Clive Williams said he believed the organisation was still active. More reports – p 2 Editorial p 10" 3 The second article, which appeared on page 2 of the newspaper and which became exhibit B in the proceedings was headed "Ex-Qantas worker denies terror links" and related solely to Bilal Khazal, without mentioning or referring to the plaintiff. However, it contained the following insert:- "Origins of the 'Holy War Warriors' LASKAR Jihad, or 'Holy War Warriors', were formally founded in 2000 by Jafar Umar Thalib, who spent the late 1980's fighting alongside the mujaheddin in Afghanistan. The group is thought to be responsible for the death of thousands of Christians in Ambon, the capital of the Maluku Islands, and is believed to have loose links with al-Qa'ida, Jemaah Islamiah and the Malaysian-based KMM-Kumpulan Mujahidin Malaysia. At its height in 2000-1, the organisation had more than 10,000 members. It is now thought to be active in West Papua. Last year, the Centre for Defence Information in Washington reported that Laskar Jihad had received at least $9.3 million embezzled from the Indonesian army".