'Evil' bloggers, ... beware!

'Evil' bloggers, ... beware!

Tayyar.org, here

"tayyar.org has learned that an American attorney of Lebanese descent, Edward T. Saadi of Youngstown, Ohio, recently won a groundbreaking Internet defamation lawsuit in a federal court in Tampa, Florida.

The case arose in 2007 after an anonymous “blog” appeared on the Internet containing vicious personal attacks against Saadi and numerous other individuals identified in the blog as associates of General Michel Aoun. Saadi filed suit and, using subpoenas issued to various Internet companies, traced the blog to a Lebanese immigrant and former Youngstown resident, Pierre A. Maroun of Tampa, Florida.

On being sued, Maroun posted more websites, using the name “American Lebanese Coordination Council,” which accused Saadi and his father (renowned cardiologist Dr. Elias T. Saadi) of having ties to, and even funding, terrorism. According to tayyar.org sources, Dr. Saadi and Atty. Saadi worked very hard to pass the Syria Accountability and Lebanese Sovereignty Restoration Act, an anti-terrorism law, in the U.S. Congress—which makes Maroun’s statements not only false, but a great irony. Dr. Saadi even testified before the U.S. Congress in favor of that Act, and is the recipient of the National Order of Cedar medal for his work on behalf of Lebanon. It appears that Maroun’s sole basis for his accusations is that Atty. Saadi was one of the four Americans invited by General Aoun to accompany him home from exile in May of 2005.

On October 1, 2009, an eight-member jury unanimously found that all of Maroun’s statements were false, defamatory, and fabricated by Maroun out of “ill will, hostility and an intent to harm” Atty. and Dr. Saadi. The jury returned a verdict of $90,000 with a punitive award of $60,000, which under American law is intended to punish egregious behavior. The verdict is believed to be the first in an Internet defamation case in a Federal Court in the U.S.A...."

Posted by G, Z, or B at 5:30 PM