At the end of January 2016 it was widely reported that a “Muslim leader” was suing Donald Trump for £10 million over his claims that areas of London were “no go” areas for the police.
The claimant in the enterprising and imaginative claim is a Mr Kamran Malik. It appears that he has objected to Donald Trump’s claim in December 2015 that
“We have places in London and other places that are so radicalised that the police are afraid for their own lives. We have to be very smart and very vigilant”.
The remarks were dismissed at the time by the Metropolitan police which said
“We would not normally dignify such comments with a response, however, on this occasion we think it’s important to state to Londoners that Mr Trump could not be more wrong”.
ITV News quoted Mr Malik as saying that Mr Trump’s “careless and negligent comments” had the potential to “affect the trust and confidence that (local Muslims) have built with their non-Muslim friends and business partners”. He said
“Due to this incident, Muslims in the area have been having to make an extra special effort to live lives that are productive in order to eradicate the stereotype and prejudicial bias which has been caused by the remarks of the defendant”.
On 29 January 2016 Mr Malik applied to the High Court for permission to serve proceedings on Mr Trump in New York. This application was adjourned to 10 February 2016 to give Mr Malik time to put his claim in order.
Mr Kamran Malik is no stranger to the Courts. He founded the “Communities United Party” in 2010 and stood for election on a number of occasions. In 2014, came fifth in the election for the Mayor of Newham.
The party brought a number of unsuccessful claims for judicial review against the borough of Newham. In May 2013, Collins J made a civil restraint order against the party prohibiting it “from taking any proceedings which relate, either directly or indirectly, to decisions of the London borough of Newham” without the leave of a judge ([2013] EWHC 2809 (Admin)).
Mr Malik appears to have a number of other actions pending before the High Court and the Court of Appeal. The EWCA Case Tracker list includes a number of pending or recently determined applications by Mr Malik for permission to appeal. We draw particular attention to two:
Malik v Dacre (Editor of the Daily Mail Newspaper) – disposed of on 13 January 2016
Malik v High Court of Justice Queen’s Bench Division, awaiting a judicial decision on the papers.
{Update] Our attention has been drawn to another claim brought by Mr Malik, against the editor of his local newspaper, the Newham Recorder, Michael Adkins.
This appears to be the second action brought in respect of a story that in June 2014 Mr Malik was subject to a criminal conviction and was sentenced to 6 months’ imprisonment.
The previous action was struck out and Mr Malik was refused permission to appeal. On 12 January 2016, the Court of its own motion made an order [pdf] striking out the new claim. The order records that Mr Malik’s representative had, in June 2014, accepted that the story was true.
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