An Ontario court has issued its Judgement dismissing the defamation lawsuit filed by Shahram Tabe Mohammadi against four directors and contributing authors of the Iranian Canadian Journal (IC Journal).
In 2019, Tabe Mohammadi brought a defamation case against four editors and authors associated with IC Journal at the time, stemming from two articles published in 2018 and 2019. The two articles, one an editorial and the other an opinion article, were published in response to unfounded allegations Tabe Mohammadi had made against IC Journal, its Directors and authors, in Shahrvand Magazine. The opinions published by IC Journal in response stated that Tabe Mohammadi’s accusations were baseless.
The IC Journal articles also provided information and opinion about Mr. Tabe Mohammadi’s engagements within the Iranian Canadian community, including his writings for the Persian-language Shahrvand Magazine. The articles stated that Shahram Tabe Mohammadi’s writings regularly contained comments that were Islamophobic in nature. The articles argued that the tropes and baseless accusations from Shahram Tabe Mohammadi contribute to further discrimination against the Iranian-Canadian community. The articles included references to Tabe Mohammadi’s writings. For instance, in an article he published in Shahrvand Magazine prior to the Ontario provincial election in 2018, he discouraged voters from supporting a young Iranian-Canadian candidate. He suggested that if she were elected to the Ontario Parliament, she might advocate for the recognition of Sharia law in Ontario. However, the young Iranian-Canadian candidate, who was the subject of Tabe Mohammadi’s writing, has never expressed support for recognizing Sharia Law.
The two IC Journal articles can be accessed through the following links on the IC Journal website:
“MP Laverdière Rejected Shahram Tabe Mohammadi’s Accusations in Shahrvand”
“Mr. Tabe-Mohammadi, Learn More About Islamophobia
Following a five day trial, which included the testimony from both parties, Deputy Judge O. Kahane-Rapport dismissed the Claim in her January 12th Judgement. Her Honour determined, among other things, that the opinions expressed in these IC Journal articles, were protected by the defence of “fair comment.” She detailed the criteria for the defence of fair comment as follows:
- The comment must pertain to a matter of public interest;
- It must be founded on fact;
- While it may include factual inferences, it must clearly be recognized as a comment;
- The comment could be considered one that any person could honestly make based on the established facts;
- The comment was not driven by explicit malice.
Deputy Judge Kahane-Rapport concluded that the opinions expressed in the two articles fulfilled all these listed criteria, leading to the lawsuit’s dismissal. In a subsequent decision released on Feb 15, 2024, the Judge also ruled for Shahram Tabe Mohammadi to pay for part of the legal costs of the defendants as per the Ontario court rules.