Location: The Heritage Foundation's Lehrman Auditorium
A free press is vital to America's civil society, our democracy,
and - as Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld's reporting demonstrates - our
national security. Ehrenfeld's books trace the connections between
the drug trade, corrupt foreign governments, major international
financial institutions, and Islamic terrorists. In response to her
2003 book, Funding Evil, Khalid bin Mahfouz, an international
financier and al-Qaeda conduit, sued her for libel in Britain,
though neither have any ties there and the book was not published
there. The court awarded Mahfouz hundreds of thousands and banned
her book. This is libel tourism, and it is just one way that
anti-Western forces are using law to silence their critics. Denying
enforcement of foreign libel judgments that abridge First Amendment
rights is a good step, but not enough. Congress needs to create
powerful disincentives to keep libel tourism from chilling the
expression of our core rights and values.
More About the Speakers
Featuring:
Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld
Director,
American Center for Democracy and Author,
Funding Evil: How Terrorism Is Financed and How to Stop It
Andrew C. McCarthy
Chairman,
Center for Law and Counterterrorism,
The Foundation for Defense of Democracies
Andrew M. Grossman
Senior Legal Policy Analyst,
Center for Legal and Judicial Studies,
The Heritage Foundation
Hosted By
Robert Alt
Director, Rule of Law Programs and Senior Legal Fellow
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