Muslim man libelled by Katie Hopkins says life is 'never the same' after columnist falsely linked him to Al Qaeda

Zahid Mahmood says apology and payout does not compensate for effect the columnist's inaccurate slurs had on his family

Katie Hopkins (Ian Gavan/Getty Images)

The man who Katie Hopkins libelled as a Muslim extremist has told how his life suffered following her newspaper column where she suggested he was an extremist with links to Al Qaeda.

“The impact when somebody does something wrong… when someone apologises, it is never the same," Zahid Mahmood told The Independent. "The effect it has on the lives of the people, that does not come back.

“You cannot get back the loss you made in terms of how people look at you and the stress it has caused you.

"It can’t be compensated in the form of money or an apology.”

Mr Mahmood and members of his family made headlines last December when they were barred from boarding a flight to California from London Gatwick after US Homeland Security revoked their authorisation without further explanation.

Following the incident, Hopkins wrote a column on 23 December, 2015, which was later taken down, for the Mail Online.

It was headlined: “Just because Britain’s border security is a Mickey Mouse operation you can’t blame America for not letting this lot travel to Disneyland – I wouldn’t either”.

On Monday, Hopkins and the Mail Online apologised to the Mahmood family and issued a statement saying: “We are happy to make clear that Tariq Mahmood and Zahid Mahmood are not extremists, nor do they have any links to Al Qaeda. They were travelling to the USA with their families to see one of their brothers for a holiday in California and they had indeed planned to visit Disneyland as part of their trip.”

Mr Mahmood, a well-known person in his community of Waltham Forest, said after Hopkins’ column he was no longer invited back into schools to speak to students about Islam and Islamophobia, which is something he had frequently done in his own time.

“The schools did not contact me after [the column],” he said. “I really enjoyed [visiting schools] because, for a lot of students, I could actually clear their misconceptions about Isis: how Isis portray [themselves] as an Islamic group but have nothing to do with Islam and then what the true message of Islam is, it teaches us peace. I had a platform where I could educate children and that affected me the most, I was not invited there after her column.”

Mr Mahmood also said that his children, already upset by being barred from joining their cousins in California for the trip to Disneyland, received verbal abuse at school.

He said Hopkins' column was the only one which affected the family and after she connected the family to extremists, it became “too much” for them so they contacted a law firm. Mr Mahmood also called the “hundreds and thousands” of comments on her article “very, very hurtful” and said he felt everybody was watching them when they left in the house in the aftermath of the article being published.

The Mail Online also apologised for a further column by Hopkins where she suggested Tariq’s son Hamza was responsible for a Facebook page which allegedly contained extremist material. It has now become clear the page was linked to him “as an error involving his email address”.

“We and Katie Hopkins apologise to the Mahmood family for the distress and embarrassment caused and have agreed to pay them substantial damages and their legal costs,” the Mail said in a statement. The damages are £150,000.

In a statement on his brother’s website on Tuesday, Mahmood asked for people to stop targeting Hopkin, saying he and his family accepted both her and the Mail Online’s apology.

“I know a lot of people are making vile comments about her, but please refrain and forgive her for her actions,” he said. “She may one day reflect and become a better human being. As far as we are concerned she has apologised and we have welcomed it.”

A representative for Hopkins and the Mail Online did not immediately respond to a request for comment.