Liberal group to pay damages in defamation case

The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) must pay $3.4 million to British anti-extremism organization Quilliam for saying the group hated Muslims, according to a settlement announced Monday. The founder of Quilliam, Maajid Nawaz, is a self-described secular Muslim who works to challenge Islamic extremism. The SPLC, a U.S. nonprofit organization, included Quilliam in its Field Guide to Anti-Muslim Extremists. Nawaz once was involved with extremist groups but changed his views and now works to combat both anti-Muslim prejudice and radical Islam. He has struggled to gain acceptance in liberal circles and previously won another lawsuit against an intelligence risk assessment corporation that put him on its terrorism watch list. “Too much and for too long … many on the left have been trying to shut down any debate or critique or criticism around Islam, especially by Muslims within Muslim communities,” Nawaz said. The SPLC issued an apology when the settlement was announced. “We’ve found that Mr. Nawaz and Quilliam have made valuable and important contributions to public discourse, including by promoting pluralism and condemning both anti-Muslim bigotry and Islamist extremism,” SPLC president Richard Cohen said.