Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) activist Shayan Ali, along with YouTuber Adil Raja and their lawyer Mahtab Anwar Aziz tried to tarnish the reputation of the Inter Services Agency (ISI) and Pakistan Army in the UK High Court but failed to provide any evidence to support their claims.
Mahtab Anwar Aziz, who represents both Shayan Ali and Adil Farooq Raja, told the UK High Court in Brigadier (retired) Rashid Naseer’s defamation case against Adil Raja, that Shayan Ali was vulnerable and suffering from mental health issues.
Aziz tried to argue that the defamation cases brought by Brigadier (retired) Rashid Naseer against Adil Raja and a case by Marriyum Aurangzeb against Shayan Ali "lacked merit" and were Strategic Lawsuits against Public Participation (SLAPP) and should not be allowed to continue or be halted for a few months.
To achieve this purpose and with approval from Shayan Ali and Adil Raja, Aziz made completely false and ludicrous allegations of terrorism, corruption, murder, kidnappings, torture, rigging, repression, and censorship against Pakistan’s military before the court but failed to back up his claims with evidence.
Aziz told the court that the solicitors, at the law firm that represents Rashid Naseer, were prolonging the case with Shayan Ali as it "should have settled at an early stage to avoid undue stress and financial loss to Mr Ali," who he said was "a vulnerable young teenager, who has suffered mental health issues due to the strategically prolonged litigation designed to financially drain Mr Ali’s family who are supporting him as he is a full-time student."
Adil Raja told the court that his life and his lawyer’s life were in danger, but Aziz, who calls himself a celebrity lawyer, was happy to take on the Pakistani army and the ISI as he "is an expert martial artist having trained in martial arts for over 40 years."
It is not clear how this would help Adil Raja in his case or if he is threatening the Pakistani army and ISI with violence from Mahtab Anwar Aziz.
Aziz had been so desperate to try and stop the cases going ahead that he made several false allegations against the Pakistan Army and the ISI, hoping the English judge would be swayed by the allegations that we often read in the Indian media, but he failed badly.
Moreover, Aziz told the court that “given the sort of reprehensible activities associated with the current establishment of Pakistan and in particular its "ISI," it is not in the interest of, nor professionally advisable for any solicitor of England and Wales to be taking up a case on behalf of such a claimant, being either the ISI or any of its officers, or any member of the PMLN Party, as they are well known to subjugate and oppress any journalist, activist, politician, or whistle-blower,” but the court rejected his argument.
He said it was “unconscionable” for any solicitor to act for Brigadier (retired) Rashid Naseer, Marriyum Aurangzeb, or any ISI officer.
Azoz told the court that Raja filed his application to stay the trial almost two years after the case started because he was “following closely the events in Pakistan in the lead up to the elections of February 2024.
It was highly hoped and anticipated not only by Mr. Raja but also by the people of Pakistan that the powers that be in the shape of the very corrupt and mafia like organisation that is the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) should finally be ousted from power and sanity and stability prevail once again in Pakistan.
For this reason, Mr. Raja was hopeful that once the PML-N was replaced by Imran Khan’s PTI Party, this case would no longer be pursued as the establishment would then face radical restructuring and the ISI would no longer support or fund such claims as this”.
Adil Raja and Shayan Ali’s lawyer alleged before the court that the Election Commission of Pakistan stopped the 8 February election results “at the behest of the ISI/Army Chief” and that the “delayed time was used by the establishment to rig the elections on a massive scale nationally” and that “this was blatant and shameless election rigging of a grand scale never seen in Pakistan, so much was the establishment’s ruthless desire to retain power that it cared not one iota that it would be seen as despotic,” but the court rejected these allegations.
Aziz told the court in a last-ditch effort that “there are too many incidents and actions that have occurred in Pakistan to name individually as examples of the authoritarian nature of the ruling establishment, which is the Pakistan Army and its elite officers in the ISI, who rule with an iron hand, impunity, and supreme power that cannot be questioned, opposed, or criticised in any manner.
To do so would result in disappearances, kidnappings, torture, and even murder. There are sufficient human rights reports and journalistic articles demonstrating the above readily available online. Pakistan has been declared an authoritarian state for a reason by the respected Economist’s Intelligence Unit based in London.”
The lawyers of Shayan Ali and Adil Raja told the court, “It is the ISI that is behind this claim, with Brigadier Rashid Naseer as the claimant,” and therefore the trial should be stayed, but the court rejected these arguments as they lacked merit and credibility.
Mahtab Anwar Aziz told the court that Shayan Ali, who regularly protests in London against PMLN, was exercising his freedom of speech “in relation to an economic crime in which Ms. Aurangzeb was implicated, and he then became the subject of a defamation claim,” and that’s why the case should be stopped, but the judge did not agree and went ahead with his rulings.
Brigadier (retired) Rashid Naseer’s name had surfaced when former PM Imran Khan named him as Mr ‘X’ when making wild and baseless allegations—the allegations Khan and his party have since stepped back from and failed to prove at any forum.
Shayan Ali and Adil Raja’s lawyer produced before the court a newspaper article in a pro-Indian publication published in February 2024 in which false and baseless accusations were levelled that Pakistani ISI was responsible for the killing of journalist Arshad Sharif in Kenya, alleging that the killing was “orchestrated by Pakistan’s ilitary."
The article alleged that there was a connection between the ISI and Kenyan intelligence that led to the murder of Sharif on October 23.
Mahtab Aziz alleged in his statement that “it is also important to note that the ISI has a longstanding connection to criminal activity in Kenya.”.
He made these frivolous claims in support of Adil Raja’s 12-page diatribe against Pakistan's armed forces, blaming them for every problem in the country.
Raja also falsely claimed that Arshad Sharif and anchor Imran Riaz Khan are his friends and both are “prime examples” of state atrocities and that the ISI was involved in “international terrorism.”.
Regardless of what Mahtab Anwar Aziz and Adil Raja said to the judge, Adil Raja was dealt a crushing blow as he lost the meaning hearing, lost his application for a stay, lost his application for security of costs, got a very short period for anonymity for his witnesses, and his application to try and throw out the Brigadiers case was stayed by the judge.
The joint effort by Shayan Ali, Adil Raja, and Mahtab Aziz failed to convince the judge, who stated that he had no such evidence before him and that he was not convinced by the wild claims made as a last-ditch effort to stop going ahead.
On top of all that, the judge ordered that Adil Raja pay £10,000 to the Brigadier by April 17, 2024. Adil Raja tried to plead that he did not have money to pay this, but the judge still made the order. The case will now go to trial.
Both Adil Raja and Shayan Ali are jointly represented by Central Law Chambers (where Mahtab Anwar Aziz works as a solicitor), which is owned by Ahmad Jawad, who is from Mandi Bahauddin’s Gondal family. Mahtab Aziz didn’t reply to questions, and answers from Ahamd Jawad Gondal were expected.
