Metro publisher denies any link to fake news that defamed Hadiqa Kiani

LONDON: Associated Newspapers, one of the UK's largest publishers of national newspapers and consumer websites, has said it has nothing to do with the fake news that falsely linked Pakistani singing star Hadiqa Kiani to drugs smuggling.

Associated Newspapers publishes the Daily Mail, The Mail on Sunday and urban daily Metro, the third most-read national newspaper. The fake news about Hadiqa Kiyani was published by a website called Metro UK, falsely claiming that she had been arrested at London's Heathrow Airport for trying to smuggle two kilograms of cocaine into the UK. The news went viral as soon as it went up on metro-uk.com website because free-circulating Metro is widely known to the UK’s urban readers. Only a few people, who are aware of the print media market of the UK, knew that the Metro-UK is a hoax website but the vast majority fell for the fake news and some TV channels and newspapers in Pakistan ran this as breaking news, causing distress and defamation to the singer. 

Now, publishers of the genuine Metro UK have stated that it has no connection whatsoever with the website that defamed Hadiqa Kiani and doesn’t carry the responsibility for the content published on the fake website.

The Associated Newspapers spokesman told Geo News:  “The website you refer to below, metro-uk.com, has nothing to do with the Associated Newspapers site, metro.co.uk, which has not published any story about Hadiqa Kiyani.”

The spokesman said that it was making the statement to clarify the matter and to stress that it will never publish anything libellous against Hadiqa Kiani or anyone else unless there was some factual evidence in the story.

Yesterday, Hadiqa Kiani announced that she will file a defamation suit “against Metro.co.uk for allowing fake site “metro-uk.com” to defame her and tarnish the image of Pakistan by airing false news regarding her arrest”. Geo News has been told that the Associated Newspapers group has yet to receive any letter from Kiani’s lawyer Barrister Syed Ali Zafar, who is based in Pakistan. For a successful engagement with the Associated Newspapers, Hadiqa will have to find a lawyer in the UK territory carrying local license.

In the legal notice, Barrister Zafar has threatened ‘metro.co.uk’ that ‘metro-uk.com’ is using the name ‘metro’, which gives the impression that this fake site, which in the past has also been used to create false news against other important personalities, either belongs to or is associated with or operated with the consent of metro.co.uk.

Barrister Zafar has accordingly asked metro.co.uk to clarify their relationship with this website in writing. “In case metro-uk.com is not related to them, the metro.co.uk is also required to list the steps they are taking in order to have the website removed under cyber laws.”

The press statement states that “in the end the legal notice states that in case metro.co.uk does not respond, then they should be ready to face a defamation suit in which case damages of 50 Million pounds shall be claimed,” but the fact is that the cap on defamation claim stands at under £300,000 and “£50 million” defamation doesn’t exist at all. 

The hoax site metro-uk.com continues to carry fake news on Hadiqa Kiani on the front page. An inquiry into the metro-uk.com shows that this website is not even registered in the UK.

Metro-uk.com has been registered by WILD WEST DOMAINS LLC and a company called Domains by Proxy LLC in Arizona, 14455 N. Hayden Road, Scottsdale, Postal Code: 85260, USA.

It's not clear whether the Associated Newspapers ever took action against this site for copying their name in violation of the copyright rules or whether Hadiqa Kiani’s lawyer has taken action against this site for retraction, apology and damages.