Background: Seyed Mansour Hosseini, a Canadian citizen and Gonabadi Sufi, filed a defamation lawsuit against Hamid Gharagozloo, an American human rights advocate associated with the International Organization to Preserve Human Rights (IOPHR), after Gharagozloo published videos that allegedly defamed Hosseini.
Facts:
Gharagozloo published several videos, the main one being labeled "Video #2" in the Statement of Claim, a documentary that implied Hosseini was part of a conspiracy to house arrest and assassinate Dr. Noor Ali Tabandeh, a spiritual leader of the Gonabadi Sufis.
The documentary and subsequent videos, shown online and at a summit in Washington D.C., displayed a photo of Hosseini alongside Dr. Reza Tabandeh, suggesting Hosseini's involvement in the alleged conspiracy.
Hosseini requested an apology and the removal or obscuring of his photo from the videos. Gharagozloo responded by participating in more videos, further implicating Hosseini.
Issues/Main Discussion: The court examined whether Gharagozloo's videos constituted defamation by evaluating if they were defamatory, referred to Hosseini, and were published.
Ruling:
Gharagozloo's failure to respond led to a default judgment in favor of Hosseini.
The court granted Hosseini $400,000 in damages, including general, aggravated, and punitive damages, and $180,000 in costs, inclusive of all interlocutory motions.
The court declined to grant injunctive relief requested by Hosseini but noted that Gharagozloo could link to the CanLII decisions if advised.
Amount Awarded:
Total of $400,000 in damages and $180,000 in costs.
