UK newspaper columnist Julie Burchill pays damages over slur

Writer apologises to left-wing activist Ash Sarkar after abusive social media taunts

Julie Burchill has paid substantial damages in an out-of-court settlement to Ash Sarkar. Alamy

British writer Julie Burchill agreed to pay substantial damages to a left-wing political activist after falsely accusing her of being a supporter of extremism and a hypocrite.

Ms Burchill, a long-standing newspaper columnist, published a 600-word “wholehearted apology” to Ash Sarkar, a Muslim and prominent left-wing journalist.

“I wish to make clear on the record that I do not believe, have never believed, and never intended to make any allegation that Ms Sarkar is a promoter, supporter and/or sympathiser of Islamists or fundamentalist terrorism,” she wrote.

In the statement posted on her Twitter feed, she said she accepted liking Facebook and Twitter posts by others, including one that called for Ms Sarkar to kill herself.

The exchange began after comments by Ms Sarkar about an article written by a right-wing columnist and friend of Ms Burchill. The level of the payout was not revealed but was agreed in an out-of-court settlement.

Ms Sarkar told the BBC that the comments were shocking and “incredibly upsetting”, and triggered abuse from other people on social media, which affected her mental health.

People speculated about whether she was “really a woman, really a Muslim, and I was subjected to rape threats and threats of physical violence”.

Ms Burchill, who later deleted the tweets, had a publishing deal for a book about cancel culture cancelled last year because of her comments.

The publisher said her statements on Islam were not defensible from a moral or intellectual standpoint.