Cat Stevens accepts libel damages
VTR
Musician Cat Stevens - now known as Yusuf Islam - has won libel damages over articles
suggesting he refused to talk to women not wearing a veil.
The stories also claimed that the singer - a Muslim convert - would only speak to women other
than his wife through a third party.
His lawyer told The High Court in London that "Mr Islam has never had difficulties working with
women".
The World Entertainment News Network agency has already apologised.
'False impression'
Its article, entitled "Yusuf Islam ignores bare-headed women", was distributed to its
subscribers including Contactmusic.com, read by more than two million people per month, which
also published an apology on its website.
Mr Islam's laywer, Adam Tudor, told the court the allegations had caused the singer
"considerable embarrassment and distress".
He said that the defendants now accepted that the claims were "entirely false" and had "created
an utterly false impression of attitude to women"
"In his normal life, women feature among some of the most influential people in Mr Islam's team."
Mr Tudor added that the story "cast serious aspersions, quite wrongly, on his religious faith,
which is of the utmost importance to him".
WENN and Contactmusic.com also agreed to pay the singer's legal costs, while the damages have
been donated to his charity Small Kindness.
The musician, who converted to Islam in 1977, was not in court.
In 2005, Mr Islam won substantial libel damages from The Sun and Sunday Times after they
falsely claimed he supported terrorism.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/entertainment/7513574.stm
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> Cat Stevens accepts libel damages
Good to hear. Cat always seemed a straight up guy.