The Syrian refugee who was allegedly ‘waterboarded’ by a school bully is taking legal action against Facebook over claims he attacked English girls.
Lawyers acting for 16-year-old Jamal are preparing to sue the internet giant for allowing English Defence League founder Tommy Robinson to peddle false accusations about him on its site.
In a highly unusual case, Facebook stands accused of allowing Robinson to make a series of poisonous rants about Jamal because the far-Right activist’s popularity makes the company money. The boy’s legal team says the social media company was fully aware of the reckless and pernicious nature of Robinson’s videos and has profited from defamation.
They have also launched legal proceedings against Robinson for falsely claiming that Jamal attacked three girls and a boy.
Two months ago, shocking footage emerged of Jamal being headbutted and dragged to the ground by the neck before his attacker threatens ‘to drown him’ by pouring a bottle of water over his face as fellow pupils at Almondbury Community School, just outside Huddersfield, cheer.
Robinson even told his 1 million followers on Facebook that the case went to court, but a spokesman for West Yorkshire Police said they were not aware of any such reports, and Robinson later admitted he had been duped.
But by then the videos had been watched more than a million times. Some of the footage can still be found online.
In an exclusive interview with the Mail, Jamal said: ‘I felt scared that people would think wrong about me because I hit girls when I didn’t. I was scared because I feared people would attack me more because they would be believing in what Tommy Robinson said about me.
Source: Daily Mail
