The UK Sun apologized to law firm Leigh Day after claiming it knew an Iraqi man named Basim Al-Sadoon fabricated allegations of abuse against British soldiers.
Al-Sadoon admitted in an interview with the UK Sun last year that he “arranged hundreds of fake abuse claims against British war heroes in the Gulf” to get settlements from Britain’s Ministry of Defence.
Despite Al-Sadoon’s admission, the Sun reported that the law firm Leigh Day “continued to pursue a claim against” the Ministry of Defence on behalf of Al-Sadoon “for several months after” he admitted faking claims. Another Sun article “suggested” the firm “made claims that were ‘deliberate lies.'”
Now, the Sun is apologizing to the firm. In a June 5 apology, the Sun wrote:
“A story “Cheat of War” (29 May 2018), reported that Leigh Day continued to pursue a claim against the MoD of an Iraqi man, Basim AI-Sadoon, for several months after he had given The Sun an interview saying his claim was fabricated. The article suggested that Leigh Day knew the claim to be false but was still taking steps to try and achieve a settlement. In fact, this was incorrect and Leigh Day was not actively pursuing the claim or trying to achieve a settlement.
“A second article “War Slur Appeal” (18 July 2018) suggested that the firm had been found by the AI Sweady Inquiry to have made claims that were “deliberate lies”. In fact, the Inquiry’s findings were in relation to allegations made by particular witnesses to the Inquiry who Leigh Day acted for in separate claims.
“Both articles have previously been corrected. We apologise to Leigh Day.”
iMediaEthics has written to Leigh Day and the Sun. Leigh Day declined to comment.