B E T W E E N

QASIM AKHTAR
Claimant

-v-

NEWS GROUP NEWSPAPERS LIMITED
Defendant

STATEMENT IN OPEN COURT

Daniel Taylor of Taylor Hampton, Solicitors for the Claimant:

My Lady,

I represent Qasim Akhtar, the well-known former Coronation Street actor. The Claimant has brought libel proceedings against the Defendant, News Group Newspapers Limited, the publisher of The Sun newspaper.

On 21 November 2025, the Defendant published an article on The Sun’s website, which was subsequently published in print in the 22 November 2025 edition of the newspaper. The article falsely alleged that Mr Akhtar had “backed” and “teamed up with” Uthman ibn Farooq, an Islamic cleric, and that by his association with him he supported extremism, radicalisation and violence, and that he had “moved to Pakistan” and “trained with guns.”

None of these allegations were true.

Mr Akhtar has never endorsed or supported any such views and strongly condemns all forms of extremism and violence. He has never been involved in or associated with radicalisation nor has he, as further falsely claimed, moved to Pakistan and undertaken firearms training.

The Defendant has accepted that the publication of the article caused serious harm to Mr Akhtar’s reputation and also caused him great distress. This included reputational harm to his family life and to his business, which he was forced to put on hold pending the matter being resolved.

The libel was compounded by the fact that the Defendant has acknowledged that it failed to obtain Mr Akhtar’s response to these very serious allegations prior to publication.

I am pleased to inform your Ladyship that the Defendant has removed the article from its website, published an apology to Mr Akhtar and has agreed to pay Mr Akhtar substantial damages and his legal costs. It has also undertaken never to repeat the allegations.

Counsel for the Defendant:

My Lady, on behalf of the Defendant I accept everything my learned friend has said. The Defendant acknowledges that the article should never have been published and has undertaken never to repeat the allegations and to pay the Claimant substantial damages and his legal costs to compensate him for the publication.

Solicitor for the Claimant:

My Lady, having regard to the redress obtained by the Claimant, including the undertaking not to repeat and the publication of the apology, the Claimant is prepared to treat this matter as having been resolved and to seek your leave to withdraw the record.