Zulfi Bukhari wins first round of defamation suit against PM's ex wife Reham Khan

Former Special Assistant to Prime Minister Syed Zulfi Bukhari has won the first round of defamation suit against Reham Khan, former wife of Prime Minister Imran Khan.

The case was heard in a court of London, and the hearing was conducted by Justice Karen Steyn of the London High Court who decided the significance of the eight publications provided by Zulfi Bukhari in his case, including a YouTube video on Roosevelt Hotel by Reham Khan, which included four accusations and four Tweets/Retweets.

Zulfi Bukhari had approached the court on Reham Khan’s allegations regarding the Roosevelt Hotel. The defamation claim stemmed from a YouTube broadcast by Reham Khan on December 6, 2019, from the UK’s jurisdiction, in which she claimed that Zulfi Bukhari had a personal interest in the sale of the hotel in Manhattan, which is owned by Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), and that Pakistan’s national assets were being sold to help people like Zulfi Bukhari commit ‘robbery’.

Justice Steyn rejected Reham Khan’s interpretation of the publications and instead accepted Zulfi Bukhari’s argument. Zulfi Bukhari filed in July last year at the London High Court that Reham Khan deliberately targeted him in relation to the sale of Roosevelt Hotel.

The court heard that the broadcaster had raised accusations of corruption and favouritism in the first publication, dated December 6, 2019, through YouTube, claiming that Imran Khan’s administration intended to favour Zulfi Bukhari via the dubious hotel transaction.

The second publication was a Twitter promotion of the same YouTube video claiming Zulfi’s favouritism; the third publication was a Twitter promotion of the same YouTube video, and the fourth publication was a Twitter promotion of the same video alleging Roosevelt Hotel ‘plunder.’