Zulfi Bukhari, a former assistant to Prime Minister Imran Khan, has won a defamation case against the PM’s former wife Reham Khan at the London High Court.
According to court documents being reported in the media, Reham paid the sum of £50,000 as a contribution towards Bukhari’s costs and damages. She also agreed to withdraw allegations and apologised for broadcasting a defamatory video on social media. She also regretted re-tweeting three tweets carrying defamatory allegations of corruption, nepotism, and embezzlement.
The order showed that Reham was willing to apologise and pay damages ahead of a full defamation trial. Earlier in June, the same court had found that the words uttered by Reham against Bukhari comprised chase level-1 defamation — the highest form of defamation which could be proven through facts.
Bukhari sued Reham at the London High Court after she published a video on her YouTube channel, Facebook and Twitter on December 6 and 7, 2019, including tweets and retweets in which she asserted that he was involved in a “corrupt plan with the prime minister to sell or acquire the Roosevelt Hotel in New York at lesser value for his benefit.”
In a statement, Reham withdrew all allegations and rendered a full and unconditional apology.
Reham told the court: “On 6 and 7 December 2019, I published a video on my YouTube Channel, my Facebook page, and on my Twitter account in which I asserted that Syed Zulfikar Abbas Bukhari, more commonly known as Zulfi Bukhari, was involved in a corrupt plan with the Prime Minister of Pakistan to sell or acquire the Roosevelt Hotel in New York at an undervalue for his benefit. These allegations were false and untrue. Zulfi Bukhari, as I now understand, was not involved in any corrupt plan with the Prime Minister of Pakistan to sell or acquire the Roosevelt,” she said.
In the settlement agreed between the two parties, Reham agreed that she will tweet the apology and clarification in both English and Urdu and pin it to her Twitter account for at least 3 consecutive days.
