Several UK news outlets apologized and corrected stories about an Algerian man named Farid Boukemiche, Tabloid Watch reported.
The news outlets wrongly claimed he “offered a safe house in France to British Al Qaeda terrorists,” according to the Daily Mail’s May 3 report. The Daily Mail noted that “Associated Newspapers, the publisher of MailOnline and Metro, The Telegraph Media Group, MGN, the publisher of the Daily Mirror, and the publisher of the Daily Express” all paid Boukemiche and unpublished their reports.
The Telegraph’s reports were published on January 3 and 4, 2011, according to its note explaining that a freelancer reported the story that
“incorrectly suggested that Mr Boukemiche was on trial in France in January 2011 for associating with a known terrorist organisation; for financing terrorism; offering a ‘safe house’ in France to British terrorists from Al Qaeda networks and that he was a ‘gangster; who was accused of carrying out robberies (including one allegation of armed robbery) and/or had admitted to robbery.”