Thursday, 4:30 PM
Lawsuit against Boston Herald dropped
By Donovan Slack, Globe Staff
The Islamic Society of Boston agreed Tuesday to drop a lawsuit alleging that 16 individuals and entities, including The Boston Herald and Fox 25-TV , WFXT conspired to publish and broadcast false and defamatory statements about the society.
Both sides in the lawsuit claimed victory, the Islamic Society because the deal also brought to an end a related lawsuit that threatened construction of a mosque in Roxbury and the defendants because the Islamic Society never collected a penny for alleged libel from the media organizations and a Jewish group.
The Islamic Society said it agreed to give up the case after plaintiffs in another case seeking to stop the society from building a mosque in Roxbury also agreed yesterday to drop their claim.
A judge dismissed that case in February, but the plaintiffs had filed a legal notice of intent to appeal.
A lawyer for the society called the dismissals a victory, saying they meant the local Muslim group would now be able to move forward with construction of the mosque.
"Now is the time to move on," lawyer Albert L. Farrah Jr. said.
The defamation suit, filed in 2005, asserted that news outlets and Jewish advocacy groups orchestrated a media campaign to halt mosque construction, falsely linking Islamic society leaders with terrorist groups.
The years long legal battle damaged relations between local Muslim and Jewish communities and prompted calls for mediation from other religious leaders. It was unclear whether yesterday’s dismissals will help mend the rift.
The Herald and The David Project, a Jewish advocacy group also named as a defendant in the suit, asserted that the Islamic Society dropped its case because the lawsuit would have unearthed documents supporting news reports about mosque financing and links to suspected terrorist organizations.
"The ISB's abandonment of all of its claims against citizens and against journalists for not one dollar speaks volumes about the validity of the concerns expressed by the citizens and the accuracy of the articles published about the ISB," said Jeffrey Robbins, a lawyer for The David Project.
Herald Publisher Patrick J. Purcell issued a statement saying the newspaper's coverage was "detailed, well-researched, quality journalism."
