Tuesday, June 8, 2004 · Last updated 5:22 a.m. PT

Man wins damages over al-Qaida claim

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

LONDON -- A Web site designer accepted substantial undisclosed libel damages Tuesday from a newspaper that said he was suspected of being an accomplice of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida terror network, the man's lawyer said.

Adam Musa King, the creator of Mathaba.Net, had sued the Sunday Telegraph over two "offensive and distressing" articles published after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States.

His lawyer, Barton Taylor, told the High Court in London that the first article, in October that year, did not identify King by name but suggested he was suspected of being an accomplice of al-Qaida.

The second, in December, identified King and suggested there were good grounds to suspect him of being a supporter of al-Qaida, Taylor said.

The Telegraph Group Ltd. now accepts there was no truth to the allegations, the lawyer added.

He said King had always abhorred terrorism and had never advocated or supported violence of any description or political change by anything other than peaceful democratic means.

The Sunday Telegraph apologized and agreed to pay damages as well as King's legal costs.