Shahbaz’s son-in-law files £500,000 defamation case against Daily Mail

LONDON: PML-N President Shahbaz Sharif’s son-in-law Imran Ali Yousuf has launched a defamation suit against the Mail on Sunday, Mail Online, and reporter David Rose, seeking an apology and damages of more than £500,000 over an article published last year that had accused Yousuf of stealing British foreign aid earmarked for the victims of the 2005 earthquake that hit Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

The Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL), a year ago, had published allegations titled “Did the family of Pakistani politician who has become the poster boy of British overseas aid STEAL funds meant for earthquake victims?”

"The allegations are likely to have a serious impact on his ability to continue to support and or diminish the work of his political family, his and their charitable works, especially in his prospects for raising support and or donations for his political family and or charitable causes,” the particulars of the claim by Yousuf states.

It mentions that the publication reaches millions of people and the article has been shared over 34,000 times. Yousuf, who is married to Shahbaz Sharif’s daughter Rabia Sharif, is seeking more than half a million pounds in damages from the ANL as well as an injunction to get the article taken down and prevent any further publication. The Mail publishers have said that the publication stands by its story and the claim will be defended vigorously.