JEDDAH: Prince Turki Al-Faisal, former Saudi ambassador in Washington, has won a legal battle against the French TV channel France 3 that had accused the prince in a documentary program two years ago that he had prior knowledge of the terrorist attacks against the United States on Sept. 11, 2001.
“The French Appeals Court rejected on Wednesday an appeal filed by the channel on a previous convicting verdict issued by the Court of First Instance,” said an official statement carried by the Saudi Press Agency late Thursday.
The appeals court upheld the verdict of the Court of First Instance, increased the compensation that should be paid by the channel to the prince, and ordered the channel to telecast a frank apology at the beginning of its main news bulletin within one week of the issuance of the ruling, the statement added.
“This ruling came as a confirmation of the firm position of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in its war against terrorism in all its forms, as well as its keenness to promote world peace and security,” said Prince Turki, who is chairman of the board of directors of King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies.
He added, “This verdict is a proof of the integrity of the French judiciary which refuted claims that tried to undermine the reputation of the Kingdom. This ruling and other previous verdicts enhance Saudi Arabia’s strong and firm position.”
Prince Turki had earlier won a case against France 3 and a French journalist who prepared the program, which alleged that the prince, being a former Saudi intelligence chief, had prior knowledge of the Al-Qaeda’s 9/11 plot.
“This claim was rejected by the Court of First Instance and its ruling was upheld by the Court of Appeals.
The two courts convicted the main French channel of deliberately distorting the image of Prince Turki Al-Faisal by ignoring the prince’s remarks in its report though he had given a press statement to the French journalist,” the statement said.
The court ruling pointed out that the report deliberately made a montage of the prince’s statement and ignored official statements, which denied allegations circulated by several hostile parties against Saudi Arabia and its senior officials of involvement in 9/11 events, including an important official report issued by US Independent Committee assigned to investigate the causes of the attacks in the US. “This report was mentioned by the Court of Appeals,” the statement said.
Earlier, Prince Turki and other Saudi officials had won cases in the United States and France, which cleared them of similar allegations. Courts in the US have acquitted Prince Turki of charges filed against him by the victims of 9/11 attacks with the support of some lawyers who wanted to make material benefits at the expense of Saudi Arabia’s reputation.
A senior official at France 3 channel told Al-Watan on Thursday that it had not yet received a copy of the court verdict. “Our lawyer has also not received the verdict,” the official said, adding: “We’ll study the verdict to decide what to do next.”
The state-owned France 3 is one of the most popular free-to-air channels in France with more than 10 million viewers.
