ONTARIO

SUPERIOR
C O U R TO F J U S T I C E

BETWEEN:

KHURRUM
AWAN
lntendedPlaintiff

and

EZRA LEVANT
Intendeddefendant

NOTICE OFLIBEL
(pursuantto section5 of the Liberand sranderAct,R.s.o.1990,c. L.12.1

TAKE NorlcE THAT the intendedplaintiff("Mr. Awan")will commence

proceedings againstyoufor defamatory you havepublished
statements on your
bloglocated at the URLwww.ezralevant.com. Theparticulars
of thedefamatory
statements publishedby you are set out belowand compriseda seriesof bloil
entrieson June 4, 2009. Includedin the June 4, 2009 blog entriesis the
republication
by you of a seriesof blogentrieson the dateslndicatedin this
Noticeof Libel.

Throughoutyourblogentriesyou havefalselyaccusedMr.Awanof committing

perjuryand havefalselystatedthe factsrelatedto the hearingbeforethe BC
Human Rights
Tribunal.

Mr.Awanwillseekgeneral,specialandpunitivedamages fromyou. Mr.Awan

demands thatyouforthwith,
removeall blogentriesentitled"Khurrum
Awanthe
liar"fromyourwebsite.
 -2-

Specificationof the matterscomptainedof bv Mr. Awan

Awantheliar,part8" - http://ezralevant.com/2009/06/khurrum-awan-the-liar-part-
"Khurrum
8.html
of Posting:June 4, 200g

lve been bloggingfor abouta year and a hall and by far the most enjoyable
daysof it werethe ones I spentlive-blogging
MarkSteyn'sshowtrialat the B.C.
HumanRightsTribunatlastJune.

One of the reasonsI enjoyedbloggingfromthat trialwas that it was the firsttime

that the antl-Semitesat the Canadianlslamic Congress had to face cross-
examinationfor their conduct.Their anti-Semite-in-chief,
MohamedElmasrv-
who had boastedon nationalTV that all adultlsraeliswere legitimatetargetifor
terroristmurders- refusedto take the witnessstand,the coward.But biZarrely,
his youngprotege,a Torontolaw studentnamedKhurrumAwan,took the stand
in his place.
That, of course,is a procedureunknownto any court -- to have a stunt double
doingyourtestimonyfor you. Awanwasn'tthe complainant; he wasn'ta British
Columbian, thejurisdiction
thatheldthe trial;he wasn'tan expertin anything.He
was just some guy who was testifyingso that his boss, Elmasry,could ivoid
answering toughquestions. The ideaof sendingin a proxy- a pR flack;a stunt
double;an actor;whatever- to give testimonyon behalfof the real complainant
is novelin law.But thenthesekangaroo courtsaren'trun by realjudgeswithreal
rulesof procedure - theyjust makeit up as theygo along.

DefamatoryStatements:
1. You havefalselystatedby innuendoin the above-quoted blog entrythat
Mr. Awan is an anti-Semite. Mr. Awan has never made any inti-semitic
statements in publicor private;nordoeshe harboursuchviews.
2. You havefalselystate in the above-quoted blog entrythat Mr. Awan was
testifyingin orderto preventMr. Elmasryfrom answeringtoughquestions.
Mr. Awan testifiedat the hearingof a human rights comflaint against
Maclean'sbeforethe BC HumanRightsTribunalbecausehe was partof a
studentgroupthat met with Maclean'seditors,priorto the filingof human
rightscomplaintsagainstMacrean'swith the ontario, BC, and Federal
HRCs,to ask that Maclean'spublisha responseto one of a seriesof anti-
Muslimarticles.Mr. Awan was testifyingbeforethe BC Tribunalprimarily
!o complete the narrativeabout why comptaintswere filed against
Maclean's. Mr. Awan would have testified regardlessof whether Mr.
Elmasry testified before the Tribunal. Mr. Awan took no part in the
decisionas to whether Mr. Elmasrywould testify. The innuendoof
describingMr. Awan as a "proxy",a "pR frack","a stunt double",or .an
actor" is that he was providingfafse and misleadingtestimonyto the
tribunaland assistingto preventMr. Elmasryfromtestifling.
 -3-

."MyfavouritepartwaswhenJulianporter,e.c., gotAwanto admitthathe had

beenlyingto thecanadianmediafor months whenhe hadpublicly claimed that
he hadsaidto Maclean'sthattheirdemanded "rebuttal,,
to MarkSteyn'sarticle
couldbe authoredby someonethat the canadianlslamiccongressand
Maclean's
mutually agreedupon.Underoath,Awanadmitted thatwasa tie- he
haddemanded thatMaclean'ssubmitto an authorof the clc,s ownchoosing.
And,underoathagain,Portergot Awanto admitthat he also triedto shalie
Maclean's
downfor thousandsof dollars.
too.,,

DefamatoryStatements:
1. By innuendo,and throughyour distortionof Mr. Awan's testimony,you
haveimpliedthat he was attemptingto obtain"thousandsof dollars;'from
Maclean'sfor his personalbenefit.In fact, and as stated before the
Tribunal,duringboth his examinationand cross-examination, the student
groupwhichmet Maclean'seditors,askedthat Maclean'sconsidermaking
a donationto an organizationworkingon race-relations in canada.
2. You falselystate that Mr. Awan admittedto lying in his testimonybefore
the BC Tribunal and that he admittedthat he tried to shake down
Maclean'sfor thousandsof dollars. Mr. Awan did not lie beforethe
tribunalin any manner and your accusationthat he did is false and
defamatory. Further,your statementthat Mr. Awan was attemptingto
shakedownMaclean'sis falseand impliesimpropriety on his part.

Hereare my seriesof blogentriesfromthatdaycalled"KhurrumAwanthe lia/,:1, 2, 3,

4, 5, g and7.

DefamatoryStatements:
1. You haverepublisheda totalof sevenblogsthatyou authoredtifled
"KhurrumAwanthe liar",all containing
numerousfalsestatements about
Mr.Awan.Thoseblogentriesare set out below.

"KhurrumAwan,the serialliar" - http://ezralevant.com/200g/06/khurrum-

awan-is-a-seriat-l
iar.htm
I
Posted:
June3.2008
JulianPorterhimselfwas at the meetingwhereKhurrumAwan and hisjuniorAl
sharptonstried to shake down Ken whyte and Maclean'sfor cash and a cover
story.PorteraskedAwan point blankif the CIC'sproposed"counter-article" was
to -be "mutuallyacceptable"to whyte .or of the clc's own choosing.After
obfuscatingfor a few rounds,Awanacknowledged that he neverin fact otfereda
"mutuallyacceptable"article- that was simplyan after-the-factlie; a litflebit of
taqqivathat Awan et al, has told the press.Awanadmittedthat he made no such
offerof a mutuallyacceptableauthor.lt was to be the clc's own choice.
 -4-

Defamatory
Statements:
1. You againallegethat Mr. Awan lied to the mediadue to a phenomenon
known as "taqqiya'',which again is linked to the website of a far-right
commentator,DanielPipes, and where this term is definedas indicaied
abovein this Noticeof Libel. The innuendoof four wordsis that Mr.Awan
is an lslamic/ Muslimextremistor terroristwho thinksthat it is permissible
to lie in order to attain some kind of lslamic/ lslamistobjectives.This
statementis false. You had no basisfor ailegingthat Mr. Awan is (a)
familiarwiththisconcept;or (b)that he is an extremistof any kind.

Awan the liar, part 2 - hftpllezralevant.com/2008/06/awan-theJiar-part-

2.html
Posted:June3, 2008
Now Porteris showingAwan variouslettersthat Awan sent to Maclean's.The
foolwas stupidenoughto put his shakedown demandsin writing.And Porteris
showingthat Awan demandedthat Maclean'ssubmitto the clc's choice.No
"mutuallyacceptable"anything.That qualifierwas addedlaterby Awan the Liar,
to appearmore reasonableto the Gentilepress.lt remindsme of YasserArafat,
who would preachpeacewhen speakingin Englishto western journalists,and
preachterrorismto his own constituencywhen speakingin Arabic.That'sAwan:
reasonableto the media;a juniorAl sharptonwhen dealingwjth Ken whyte. No
wonderAwanhadtroublefindingemployment following
hisclerkship.

DefamatoryStatements:
1. You havespecifically
calledMr.Awana liarand impliedthat he committed
perjury.
2. Mr. Awan did had no difficultyobtainingemploymentfoilowinghis
clerkship.He obtainedemployment whileclerkingwith the SuperiorCourt.
By innuendo,you statedthat Mr.Awanis incompetent.
3. By innuendo,you statedthat Mr. Awan is a racistMusrimwho believes
thatthe pressare "gentiles"or infidels.You had no basisin factfor making
this statement.During Mr. Awan's media appearancesreratedto the
Maclean'scase,he waSvery courteousand respectfulwith all the media
that interviewedme.
4. You specificallyassociatedMr. Awan with yasser Arafat and stated by
innuendothat he preachesterrorismto Muslims.Mr. Awan has never
preachedviolencein any formto anybody.
5. You have misrepresentedthe contentof letterswhich were exchanged
between Rogers lnc. and a student group to which Mr. Awan is
associated. In particular:
a. Mr. Awan neverstatedthat Maclean'shad to submitto CIC'schoice
of editors.
 -5-

b' The studentgroup did not indicatein the letterssent to Rogers

that
the response.could be publishedby a mutuallyacceptablE
becauseat the time the letterswere sent Miclean,s editors "rtho,
had
refusedto publishanykindof responseto the articte,and it was
only
muchlater,afterthe complaintswerepubliclyannouncedand began
to receivesignificantmediaattention'thatMaclean'seditors,falsely
claimedthat.theyhad alwaysbeenwillingto publisna resfonseano
refusedto d9 so onry becausethe stulent group wanted its own
choiceof author.
c. The tribunal at no time concludedthat Mr. Awan gave false
testimony.

Awan-theliar, part 4 - http:llezralevant.com/200g/06/awan-the-liar-part-

4.html
Posted:June3, 200g
Blog: Awanwrotea letterto a RogersexecutiveBriansegal. lt was part
of his
sharptonianadventurein shakingdown Rogers.Bad idealtt didn'twork. I
met
seg.alyesterday.He,comesgclois as a genflemanbusinessman, but I get the
feelinghe'sgoodwith a bowieknife.segil didn'tpay a dime.eut tn"r, iot why
Awan'sletterwas so stupid.lt was stupil becausenowwe havea writtentrack
recordof Awan'sshakedown-lt's beingreadbackto him in court.He,sbeing
askedwherethe phrase"mutually agreeable,,exists. lt doesn't.NowAwanis
tryingto explainawaythat tie.Uh, it isn'tworking.I'd go with the cryingstrategy.

DefamatoryStatements:
1. The innuendoof your above-quoted blog entry is that in the letterMr.
Awansentto Briansegalfollowingtheirmletingwith Maclean's,he asked
for money.That statementis false. The letterJent to Mr. segai ooei not
ask for money.By innuendo,you statedthat Mr. Awan was jftemptingto
profitfinancially.

ly:n. the liar, part s - hftp://ezralevant.com/200g/06/awan-the-liar-part-

5.html
Posted:June3, 2008
Blog: Now JulianPorteris askingKhurrumAwan abouthis pressconferenceat
the InterContinental
Hotelin Toronto,featuringFaisalJoseph.porter pointedout
that Awan and Josephdidn't makethe "mutuallyacceptable"offer there,either.
Awan gave his incoherentexplanation,with an extra'doltopoi Fargo: he *as
worriedthat Maclean'swoulddistortan offer of a mutuallyacceptablearticle,
so
theydidn'tmakeit.
Porter:"if you distortit,sokay;if he does,it's bad,,
Porterthen read out Awan'sarticlein the Globeand Mail,whereAwan not only
said the proposedarticlewould be from a mutuallyacceptablewriter, but thai
writercouldbe from insideor outsidethe Muslimcohmuniiy- but, in fact,
Awan
had demandedthat the authorof that cover-storyrebuttaibe from the Muslim
 -6-

community,and of the CIC'sown choosing. Anotherlie.Awan is drowningin his

own quicksand.Keeptalking,littlegrasshopper.
Keeptalking.

DefamatoryStatements:
1. You failedto publishin your blog entrythat Mr. Awan testifiedthat there
was no needfor him to discussa mutuallyacceptableauthorbecause,at
the time,Maclean'seditorswere unwillingto publishany responseat all. lt
was only approximatelyfour days after this press conference,that
Maclean'schief editor,Ken Whyte,falselyclaimedthat he had always
beenpreparedto publisha responseto the article.Therefore,as a result
of your failureto ascertainthe completefacts beforeyou publishedthe
above-quoted blogentry,you falselyaccusedMr.Awanof perjury.

Awan the liar, part 6 - http://ezralevant.com/2008/06/awan-the-liar-part'

6.html
Dateof Posting:June3, 2008
Blog: NowAwan is listingauthorshe'dfind acceptablefor the rebuttalarticlethey
were demanding- includingHaroonSiddiqui,of the TorontoStar.Why the hell
not? Just becausethey'recompetitors,no reasonwhy you shouldn'ttry to force
Siddiqui onto Maclean's.But Porter points out that Awan did not mention
Siddiqui's name,or any other.Porter:why didn'tyou put thoseideasto Whyte?
',wellwe couldn't."uh, okay.so you had time to demandcash, and a cover
story, but you ,'couldn't"have spoken the truth back then? | don't even
understandihe excuse.But it's not meantto be understandable; it's not meantto
clarify;it's meantto muddy,to confuse.
Let me sum up for you, dear reader,who are not here to watch a junion[sic]
would-belawyertry to explainto a courtwhy he is a serial,malicious,money-
grubbingliar.KhuriumAwanwentin demanding cashand editorialcontrol.Then
he reali2edthat doesn'tlook good in a liberaldernocracylike Canada.So he
editedthe truth.He amendedwhat he said.He lied.And lied and lied and lied.
And keptlying.
He smearedKen Whyte.He smearedMaclean's.He smearedRogers,And that
damnfool thoughtheid get awaywith it. He was so brazenthat he thoughthe'd
evencallhimselfas a witness.JulianPorterhasearnedhisfee today'

DefamatoryStatements:
1. You have falsely stated that Mr. Awan is a "serial,malicious,money-
grubbingliar," By innuendo,you have statedthat Mr. Awan committed
perjUry.The BC TribunalacceptedMr. Awan'stestimonyin its entirety,
and substantiallyrejectedthe versionof eventsthat Maclean'seditorshad
putin the publicdomainthrougha publicstatement'
2. You falselystatethat Mr. Awan is a "damnfool" and calledhimselfas a
witness.
3. You falsely state by innuendothat Mr. Awan was attemptingto elicit
moneyfrom Mclean'sfor himselfwhenthe requestwas for a donationto
a worthycause.
 -7^

Awan the liar, part 7 - hft p ://eFralevant.com/?009/06/aw?n-the-liar-pa

rt-
7.html
Blog: JulianPorteris askingAwanif he rememberswhetheror not he demanded
moneyfrom Maclean's.Porteris now readingout a writtendemandby the sock
puppetsfor "substantial" monies.Awanis denyingthe documentaryrecord.
Awansaysthat$10,000was the numbertheyhadin mind- thoughhe
acknowledges he hadn'tparticularize that sum before.

DefamatoryStatements:
1. lt is falseto statethat Mr.Awanis a "sockpuppet"for anybody.In fact,Mr.
Awanhad independent involvementin the humanrightscomplaints
againstMaclean's.He was an individual beforethe Ontario
complainant
HumanRightsCommission and had puttogethera groupof lawstudents
who had alreadymadethe decisionto meetwithMaclean'seditorsabout
the article,well beforethe CanadianlslamicCongressor Mr. Elmasrygot
involvedin this mdtter.
2. Thereis no writtendemandby Mr,Awanor any of the complainants for
"substantial"
moniesfrom Maclean's. The onlyrequestswerefor a
donationas indicatedabovein this Noticeof Libel. This statementis
completelyfalse.

Well, I'd like to add an eighthinstalmentto my series.I missedit when I first read
it in the Star'sletterto thq editorssection(scrolldown),but Mark Stevnpointsit
out Awan impliesthat he was the complainant againstme and the Western
Standardmagazinefor publishingthe Danishcartoonsof Mohammed.Awan
writes:
Ezra Levant accuses Canada's human rights commisslonsof censorshipfor
investigating our hate-speechcomplaints about his publishing of cartoons
depictingMuslims...
Jew-hatern?med
againstme werefiledby a Pakistani
Uh,nope.The complaints
fellowcensorsat the EdmontonCouncilof
and Soharwardy's
Sved Soharwardv,
Awanand the CanadianlslamicCongresshad nothingto
MuslimCommunities.
do with it.
Who cares,really.
But it's so curious:what is it about Awan that just makes him say or write
anything- anythingat all - no matterif it'strue or not?
I can understandif he has an urge to lie. lt's calledtaoiyyq.But surelyany
liarwouldchoosea lie that is not so easilycheck-able.
intelligent Why lie about
something thatcan be so easilydisproven?

DefamatoryStatements:
1. Mr. Awan co-authoreda letterto the Editorthat was publishedin the
TorontoStar in responseto a TorontoStar op-edpieceby you, in which
 -8-

you referredto the humanrightscaseagainstMaclean's.Therein,you

referred
to the complainantsas radicalMuslims.In the respondingletter
Mr. Awan submittedto the Star, he did not claim that he was a
complainantin the humanrightscasefiledagainstyou beforetheAlberta
HumanRightsCommission withrespectto his publication
of the Danish
cartoons.
Theletterwaswordedasfollows:
"Recently, on fhese pages, Ezra Levant accused Canada's human rights
commissions(HRCs) of censorshipfor investigatinghate speecfi complaintsabout
his publishingof cartoonsdepictingMuslimsand the ProphetMuhammadas suicide
bombersand for hearing our complaintsregardingMaclean'smagazine'srefusalto
publish a response to one of more than 20 afticles which, among many things,
represent that lslam condones sex with minors and animals, refer to Muslims as
"sheep-shaggers,"and allege that Muslims believe in drinking the blood of their
enemies... " (Emphasisadded.)
The letterthat was submittedby Mr. Awan to the Star was editedby the
Star'seditors,withoutMr. Awan'sknowledge.A letterwas sent to the
PublicEditorof the TorontoStar,KathyEnglish,informingher of the error.
You took absolutelyno stepsto verifywhetherthe letterhad beenedited
nor did you seek commentfrom Mr. Awan to confirmthat the letter,as
publishedwas accurate. You then used this false informationto
immediately conclude,once again,that Mr. Awan,had lied in the letterto
the editor. To compoundthe defamation, you went on to explainthat Mr.
Awan did so due to a phenomenon knownas "taqqiya".The actualword
on your blog is linked to the websiteof a far-rightcommentatoron
immigration and particularly
Arabsand Muslims:
http://www.danieIpipes,org/comments/25320.
On thissite,the termTaqqiya,is explainedas follows:
Tradecraft.Persona.Deception.
Disinformation. operational
Cover:Western
termsandtechniques. havetheirownterms:taqiyya
But,lslamicterrorists
(pronounced tak-e-ya): precautionary or deceptionand
dissimulation
keeping one's convicflonssecref and a synonymousterm, kitman: mental
reseruationand dissimulationor concealmentof malevolentintentions...
Taqiyyaand kitman or'holy hypocrisy'has been diffusedthroughoutArabic
culturefor over fourleenhundredyears sinceit was developedby Shiitesas
a meansof defence and concealmentof beliefsagainst Sunni unbelievers.
As the Prophet said:'he who keepssecrefs shall soonattain his obiectives.
The skilful use of taqiyya and kitman was often a matter of life and death
against enemies;rt is a/so a matter of life and death to many contemporary
tslamicterrorlsfs.As so often in the history of lslam, a theologicaldoctrine
becameoperational.
During the Spanishinquisition,Sunni Moriscosattended mass and returned
'holy watef. ln operationalterms, taqiyya
home to wash their hands of the
'mujahadeen' fo assume whatever identity was
and kitman allowed the
necessaryto fulfill their mission;they had doctrinaland theologicaland later
jurisprudentialsanctionto pretendto be Jews or Christiansto gain accessto
'the
Christian and Jewish targets: mujahadeencan take the shape of the
enemy'.
 -9-

Accordingto Christianethicslying is a srn; ln lslamiciurisprudenceand

theology,fhe use of taqiyyaagainstthe unbelieversis regardedas a viftue
anda religiousduty...

Therefore, the innuendo of your words is that Mr, Awan is an lslamic/

Muslim extremistor terroristwho thinks that it is permissibleto lie in order
to attain some kind of lslamic/lslamistobjectives.While Mr. Awan is a
practicing Muslim, he has never heard of this term before and, in any
case, does not ascribeto the conceptto which it refers.

Blog(contd.):lt'sa smallpoint.Butit bringsmebackto thefabulous vivisection

performed on Awanby Porter.And I guessit just gave me a fond trip down
memory lane.
P.S.At Steyn'striallastyear,Awanwasrevealed to be a non-party, non-expert,
no-standing witness.And it was morebizarrethanthat.Awanwas not onlya
stand-inwitnessfor Elpasry-- he wasco-counsel for Elmasry, alongwithFaisal
Joseph.
Couldyouimagine: someone's lawyer (orarticling
student,to be moreaccurate),
beinga "witness"for hisclient,too?lt'sthedefinitionof conflictof interest.
And then take that conflictof interestto the powerof two: when Awanwqs
he was beingled by FaisalJoseph,
testifying, Elmasry's otherlawyer(andco-
counselwithAwan).And-- here'sthegorgeous part- Awantestified thathewas
goingto go to workforJosephat hisfirm,as a lawyer.
To recap:
1.Awanwasn'ta partyor an expertin anyway.Yethetestified.
2. But he was also co-counselfor the complainantand partyin the case,
Elmasry.
3.Thelawyerwhoexamined AwanwasAwan's Joseph.
co-counsel,
4. AndJosephhadofferedAwana job at hisfirm.
Crazy.

What'sgeingen?Otherthanbeingan'rnimBressi@

Thetaw Seeietyef UpperGanadadireetery'"?^^ds*els-n€L

A commenterpointsout, I'm wrong:Awanis indeedan'articlingstudentat
Lerner's.
 -10-

DefamatoryStatements:
1. Mr. Awan was not testifyingon behalfof Mr. Elmasryor Dr. Habibbefore
the BC Tribunaland therewas nothingout of the ordinaryfor himto testify
beforethe Tribunaleven though he was not one of the parties. By
innuendo,you have stated that Mr. Awan acted inappropriately by
testifying.
2 . Mr. Awan WaSnot co-counselin the case against Maclean'Sand the
innuendoof yourstatementwas thathe was actingin a conflictof interest.
3 . Mr. Awan never testifiedthat he was going to work for FaisalJoseph.
Beforethe Tribunal,he testifiedthat he was goingto articlefor Lerners,
not FaisalJoseph.FaisalJosephworksfor the Lernersofficein London'
Mr. Awan interviewedand articledwith the Lernersoffice in Toronto.The
two officeshave separatehiringprocessand Mr. Awan went throughthe
standard interviewingprocess,for articlingstudents,with the firm's
Torontooffice and was offereda job by LernersLLP, in Toronto.Faisal
Josephdid nof offerhim any positionat Lernersand he has neverworked
on a single assignmentfor FaisalJosephthroughhis employmentwith
Lerners.The innuendoof your above-quoted blog entry is that Mr. Awan
securedhis positionat Lernersbecauseof FaisalJoseph'sinfluenceand
that Mr.Awan is incompetent.Bothof thesestatementsare false.
4 . You falselystate that Mr. Awan did not work for Lernersand that there
was a job offer that was terminatedby Lernersbecauseof Mr. Awan's
"lies" beforethe BC Tribunal.The truth is that Mr. Awan just recently
completedhis articlingterm at Lerners,whichstretchedbetweenJuly28,
2008and May 29, 2009.Lernershiredbackonly 1 of 6 students.Although
Mr.Awanwas not offereda positionto return,the firm was happywiththe
work he did, as reflectedby the referencelettersprovidedto him by four
senior padners at the firm, three of whom he assistedwith trials. ln
particular,he workedon two separatetrialswiththreevery seniorlitigators
at Lerners,all of whom were very happy with his work and provided
referencelettersto that effect.

Date:July14,2009
RUBY& SHILLER
Barristers
Arthur
11Prince
ONMsR182
Toronto
Phone: (416)964-9664
Fax: (416)964-8305

Brian G. Shiller (LSUC#34470G)

Solicitorsfor Mr. Awan
 - 1 1-

TO:

EZRALEVANT
c/o 1600,300 5thAvenueSW
Calgary,Alberta
T2P 3C4