At UK court, Pakistan's ex-serviceman says he and his family faced threats over false allegations

LONDON: Former Pakistan senior military officer Brigadier (retd) Rashid Naseer has told the UK High Court that he and his family suffered threats to their lives, harassment, abuse and breach of privacy after Major (retired) Adil Raja made several allegations against him from the UK jurisdiction.

Brigadier (retired) Naseer was giving evidence in the defamation case trial that he has brought against former Major Raja for the alleged defamation in nearly a dozen publications on YouTube, X (Twitter) and Facebook.

He was cross-examined at the start of the trial by Barrister Simon Harding, lawyer of Adil Raja, the defendant in the case. Adil Raja appeared via Zoom, his key witnesses Shehzad Akbar, the former head of Assets Recovery Unit (ARU) appeared in person and Shaheen Sehbai and Syed Akbar Hussain appeared online from the US in support of Raja.

Brigadier (retd) Rashid Naseer said: “False lies were spread about me, posing dangers to me and my family. My daughter had an offer from King’s College London and other prestigious universities but I was concerned after what Adil Raja did to me and decided to send my daughter and son to the US for higher studies. I have family and friends in the UK including friends working in the UK intelligence whom I have worked with. I was approached by all of them after the defendant started slandering me on social media.”

Questioning on the issue of serious harm, Barrister Simon Harding asked why Brig (retd) Naseer had not produced any evidence of the calls or communications he received from the UK area over Raja’s allegation.

He replied that he and his family had received several calls from the UK, but he would not give their details because he would not like to expose his relatives and friends from the UK to threats, abuse and trolling. The former military officer said that the level of harassment and danger he has faced has been so intense that he decided to get his daughter and son admitted to the US universities, as Raja had published pictures of his son and family on social media.

“One of the persons who attempted to assassinate me was a follower of Adil Raja, he was arrested and he confirmed he was inspired by Adil Raja’s publications about me and he wanted to kill me; one of the tweets wished death upon my son after his picture and the US University address was published,” Naseer told the court.

The London High Court Deputy judge Richard Spearman KC opened the defamation case trial between former Pakistan senior military officer and Raja by asking questions about the evidence and proofs of Brigadier (retd) Naseer’s alleged involvement in election rigging of 2024 elections and other allegations – including the importance of verified sources, factual claims and fake news allegations.

The case is based on nine publications. In deciding the meaning of the publications in April 2024, Deputy High Court Judge Richard Spearman KC had ruled that Brig (retd) Rashid Naseer was defamed at UK common law when Adil Farooq Raja made the following allegations, without any evidence, in the publications in June 2022: (1) Rashid Naseer had taken complete control of the Lahore High Court; (2) Rashid Naseer had allegedly had several meetings with Asif Ali Zardari to discuss election manipulation; (3) Rashid Naseer will be eliminated at the right time by soldiers working covertly leaking information about the actions and movements of such people; (4) Brigadier Rashid Naseer was working against PTI candidates; (5) Rashid Naseer is part of a meticulously contrived process set up by military and intelligence officers to rig elections; (6) Rashid Naseer has been abusing his position, using huge unaccounted funds to ensure the victory of PDM; (7) Rashid Naseer will be abusing his position to harass PTI supporters during the PTI election; (8) Rashid Naseer has sinned and destroyed his chances of the promised life in the hereafter; (9) Rashid Naseer had caused the police to do his bidding by making a baseless allegation of bribery; (10) Rashid Naseer is directly involved in political interference; (11) Brigadier Rashid Naseer registered a complaint against Adil Raja in order to defame him; (12) Rashid Naseer got Adil Raja’s brother in law arrested; and (13) he played a prominent role in regime change.

Adil Raja denies all these allegations. Raja has been living in the UK since April 2022. The retired Brigadier is represented by Counsel David Lemer of Doughty Street Chambers and Ushrat Sultana and Sadia Qureshi of Stone White Solicitors. Raja is represented by Counsel Simon Harding.

There were nearly 50 people from the British Pakistani community who attended the hearing. It was so packed that that the court had to open another room for the media and public to watch the proceedings.