Former publisher to sue Muslim leader who filed human rights complaint
Last Updated: Wednesday, February 13, 2008 | 8:30 PM ET
CBC News
The former publisher of the Western Standard said he is going to sue a Calgary Muslim leader who filed a human rights complaint against him for publishing controversial Prophet Muhammad cartoons.
Ezra Levant's threat of legal action comes after Syed Soharwardy, president of the Islamic Supreme Council of Canada, said he withdrew the complaint he launched against Levant in 2006 with the Alberta Human Rights Commission.
Levant said despite the withdrawn complaint from Soharwardy, he's still facing a complaint launched by the Edmonton Muslim Council. He is also vowing to sue the cleric to recover tens of thousands of dollars he claims he spent battling the complaint.
"Not only am I going to finish this human rights complaint and win it, but I'm going to launch a lawsuit against Soharwardy for abuse of process," Levant said. "That's basically when you use a government agency — a lawsuit — for frivolous and vexatious purposes to punish someone."
Soharwardy told journalists on Wednesday that he dropped the complaint because he has a better appreciation of how valuable free speech is in Canada.
But Levant rejected Soharwardy's reasoning, insisting that he just wants the bad publicity to go away.
The cartoons sparked protests worldwide when they were published two years ago in a range of Western newspapers. One of the cartoons showed Muhammad wearing a turban shaped like a bomb with a lit fuse.
