The publisher of The Sun has agreed to pay “substantial” damages to former Coronation Street actor Qasim Akhtar to settle a UK High Court libel claim.
Akhtar, who played Zeedan Nazir in the ITV soap across two stints between 2014 and 2021, sued News Group Newspapers (NGN) over an article published in print and online in November last year.
The article falsely linked him to extremism and violence and wrongly claimed that he had moved to Pakistan and undertaken firearms training.
Appearing before the High Court in London on Thursday, Akhtar’s lawyer Daniel Taylor said NGN had agreed to pay the actor “substantial damages” as well as his legal costs.
Taylor told the court the publisher had accepted the article caused serious harm to Akhtar’s reputation and “great distress”.
He said the false allegations had affected the actor’s family life and business, forcing him to put work on hold while the matter was resolved.
Taylor also said the libel was compounded by the publisher’s failure to seek Akhtar’s response before publication.
Representing NGN, Andrew Wheelhouse told the court the publisher accepted the article “should never have been published” and had undertaken never to repeat the allegations.
The settlement follows an apology published by The Sun in May, in which the newspaper accepted the claims were “entirely false”.
The newspaper said Akhtar had never endorsed or supported extremist views, strongly condemned all forms of extremism and violence, and had never moved to Pakistan or undertaken firearms training.
Akhtar did not attend Thursday’s hearing.
In an Instagram post in June, the actor described the previous six months as “very tough to say the least”, saying the false allegations had deeply affected his reputation, his family, his safety and his peace of mind.
Source: Press Association