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TORONTO, October 18, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A lawsuit scheduled to begin on Tuesday, October 15 that was filed by a Canadian Islamist activist against Ezra Levant for alleged defamation of character and slander has been rescheduled to the new year, reportedly because of the lack of a judge to hear the case, according to a National Post report.

Mr. Levant, a television host with the Sun News Network, is being sued by Regina lawyer Khurrum Awan over remarks Levant made on his blog in 2009. The remarks were made during Awan’s testimony before the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal in support of his failed complaint against Maclean’s Magazine for a 2006 article titled ‘The Future Belongs to Islam’ that was critical of Islamist fundamentalism. 

In that case, Awan, at the time a law student, testified on behalf of complainants Syed Soharwardy and Mohamed Elmasry, with the backing of the Canadian Islamic Congress, who filed human rights complaints against Maclean’s magazine for publishing an essay by Mark Steyn warning about radical Islam. After a five-day hearing in B.C. the complaint was dismissed. 

That case became a lightning rod for critics of the provincial and federal human rights commissions, who charge that the commissions have willingly become a political bludgeon against conservative activists. In other instances, the human rights commissions have been used by gay rights activists to silence Christians who speak out against homosexuality. 

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Perhaps more than anyone else, Levant has been responsible for raising public awareness about the human rights commissions – awareness that resulted in the repeal earlier this year of the controversial Section 13 “hate crimes” provision of the Canadian Human Rights Act. 

After the complaint against Levant and Maclean’s was dismissed, Levant said that despite appearances, the complainants actually won. “Because for Maclean’s and me, the process was the punishment. I spent about $100,000 in legal bills. Maclean’s spent many times that. And every other media company was sent the message: Don’t you dare talk about radical Islam, or you’ll face a nuisance suit, too,” Levant wrote in a Toronto Sun column the day before the libel lawsuit was to begin.

“This is called lawfare. Muslim extremists who enjoy Canada’s free speech for themselves, seek to take it away from their Canadian critics. Using our own laws,” Levant said, adding that “Khurrum Awan, Elmasry’s 'youth president,' later boasted: “We attained our strategic objective — to increase the cost of publishing anti-Islamic material”.” 

In his lawsuit Statement of Claim against Levant, Awan claims that in his blog postings covering the proceedings of the Maclean’s Magazine hearing, Levant “variously described [him] as ‘Khurrum Awan the liar,’ ‘stupid,’ a ‘fool,’ a ‘serial, malicious, money-grubbing liar,’” and “unequivocally implied that he was an anti-Semite and perjurer.” 

“The sting of the defamation goes to the heart of the plaintiff’s professional reputation as a lawyer and is accordingly particularly egregious,” Awan’s claim states, and notes that Levant “attacked the integrity of a first year lawyer with false, vicious, malicious and scurrilous publications designed to humiliate, embarrass and ruined (sic) [Mr. Awan].” 

Awan also claims that by using the term “taqqiya” to describe Awan’s actions in the case, Levant “falsely stated by innuendo that [Mr. Awan] believes it is permissible to lie and utilize deceit in order to further Islamic objectives.” 

However, in his Statement of Defence Levant denies the charges that his writings about Awan were libelous and states that his accounts of Awan's actions during the Maclean’s magazine hearings were “expressed on a matter of public interest,” and were “made in good faith based on facts contained within the various posts referred to and other facts publicly known.” 

“I said nothing that hadn’t been said by many critics across the political spectrum, who universally condemned the nuisance suit. But the rest of the media soon dropped the free speech cause. I turned it into an ongoing campaign. So time to apply the “strategic objective” to me,” Levant wrote in the Sun on Monday. 

Levant noted that, “Awan’s lawyer is Brian Shiller. Along with his partner, Clayton Ruby, the two are famous in Toronto for filing lawsuits against Mayor Rob Ford.” 

“It’s no surprise that Toronto’s most famous political lawyers — the firm of Clayton Ruby and Brian Shiller — are the lawyers on this file. They’re the ones who litigated political lawsuits against Rob Ford (to remove him from office, and a defamation suit too). They lost, but again … the process is the punishment. I note that their law firm has four other lawsuits pending against me. And Mr. Ruby’s daughter has been the leading opponent of the Sun News Network before the CRTC,” Mr. Levant wrote in an email to the National Post.  

According to an October 17 report in the National Post, Khurrum Awan has increased his claim for damages from $50,000 to $100,000. 

According to Ezra Levant's blog the trial has been rescheduled to January 6, 2014.

 

Related: 

Mark Steyn “Not Guilty” of “Islamophobia”: Human Rights Commission

Two Years and $100,000 Later: Ezra Levant Complaint Dismissed by Human Rights Commission

Prominent Canadian Publisher Denounces Human Rights Commissions at HRC Hearing

Canadian Human Rights Commissions under Unprecedented Scrutiny for Attacks on Freedom of Expression

Canada Catholic League Calls for Halt to Use of Human Rights’ Commissions in Free Speech Cases

Federal Politicians Set To Review Hate-speech Provision of Canadian Human Rights Act

Section 13 Hate Message Clause Unconstitutional Rules Canadian Human Rights Tribunal

Bill to scrap section 13 ‘hate crime’ provision passes House of Commons

‘Great day for freedom’: Canadian Senate axes Section 13 ‘Hate Crime’ provision