Libel reform needs YOU!

Liebe Leserinnen und Leser,

Sie wissen ja wahrscheinlich, worum es geht, nämlich um den Fall Simon Singh und das, was er bewirkt hat bzw. hoffentlich noch bewirken wird. Diesen Brief von Simon leite ich gerne weiter, und ich hoffe, Sie (ja,genau SIE!) tun das auch – ob per Blog, mail, Twitter oder wasweißich.

Aber vor lauter Weiterleiten bitte das Unterschreiben nicht vergessen!

Ulrich

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Dear Friends,

I’ve had an idea – an unusual idea, but I think it might just work.

As you know, England‘s
chilling libel laws need to be reformed. One way to help achieve this
is for 100,000 people to sign the petition for libel reform before the
political parties write their manifestos for the election. We have
17,000 signatures, but we really need 100,000, and we need your help to
get there.

                                    www.libelreform.org/sign

My idea

My
idea is simple: if everyone who has already signed up persuades just
one more person each week to sign the petition then we will reach our
goal within a month!

One
person per week is all we need, but please spread the word as much as
you can. In fact, if you persuade 10 people to sign up then email me (simon@simonsingh.net)
and I promise to thank you by printing your name in my next book …
which I will start writing as soon as I have put my own libel case
behind me. I cannot say when this will be, but it is a very real
promise. My only caveat is that I will limit this to the first thousand
people who recruit ten supporters.

When persuading your friends remember to tell them: 

(a) English libel laws have been condemned by the UN Human Rights Committee.

(b)
These laws gag scientists, bloggers and journalists who want to discuss
matters of genuine public interest (and public health!).

(c)
Our laws give rise to libel tourism, whereby the rich and the powerful
(Saudi billionaires, Russian oligarchs and overseas corporations) come
to London
to sue writers because English libel laws are so hostile to responsible
journalism. (In fact, it is exactly because English libel laws have
this global impact that we welcome signatories to the petition from
around the world.)

(d)
Vested interests can use their resources to bully and intimidate those
who seek to question them. The cost of a libel trial in England is 100 times more expensive than the European average and typically runs to over £1 million.

(e)
Three separate ongoing libel cases involve myself and two medical
researchers raising concerns about three medical treatments. We face
losing £1 million each. In future, why would anyone else raise similar
concerns? If these health matters are not reported, then the public is
put at risk.

My experience has been sobering. I’ve
had to spend £100,000 to defend my writing and have put my life on hold
for almost two years. However, the prospect of reforming our libel laws
keeps me cheerful.

Thanks
so much for your support. We’ve only got one shot at this – so I hope
you can persuade 1 (or maybe 10) friends, family and colleagues to sign.

Massive thanks,

Simon