A prominent Belfast libel lawyer has secured a full apology from an academic carrying out an agenda against the UAE.
King's College London associate professor Andreas Krieg was found by a court to have defamed Paul Tweed in a book, Subversion: The Strategic Weaponisation of Narratives.
The Belfast High Court ruled the contents of the book and a separate post by the academic on X had defamatory meanings.
The defence statement read to the court on Thursday said there were "a number of false, unfair and defamatory allegations and inferences" in the publication. These relate to the work of the international media lawyer, Paul Tweed, who was alleged to be an agent of the UAE.
“I unreservedly retract these totally unfounded allegations and sincerely apologise to Mr Tweed for questioning his impartiality and integrity and for the untrue allegations, which I never should have made or published in the first place,” Dr Krieg said.
Mr Tweed said no lawyer should come under attack for doing their job as it serves only to undermine the rule of law.
“Dr Krieg has admitted that I have been collateral damage in his agenda against the UAE and it is most disappointing that my professionalism was ever called into question in such circumstances,” he said. “I remain of the firm view that Dr Krieg’s close association with the state of Qatar should have been made clear to readers of his book.”
He added it was disappointing that King's College London continued to lend institutional credibility to Dr Krieg, who was an international affairs specialist at the top ranked university.
In his own statement the associate professor said he would make a charitable payment in addition to paying costs thought to be in excess of £150,000. He echoed Mr Tweed's language.
"I regret that Mr Tweed was collateral damage in my critical agenda relating to the UAE," he said. "I unreservedly retract these totally unfounded allegations and sincerely apologise to Mr Tweed for questioning his impartiality and integrity and for the untrue allegations, which I never should have made or published in the first place," he said.
"I have also deleted a tweet referring to Mr Tweed’s work, which the court has found to be defamatory."
The post was signed King's College London. The National has approached the university for comment.
The publishers of the book have been asked to pulp all editions.
