CNN Cites Sharia to Claim Innocence in $1,000,000,000 Defamation Suit

CNN – the crescent news network. Literally.

For years I referred to the legacy (mainstream) media as sharia-compliant in their absolute supplication and submission to Islam and defense of Islamic law. For those of you who thought I was being hyperbolic, exhibit A.

CNN cites Sharia to claim innocence in $1,000,000,000 defamation suit

By Robert Spencer, Aug 7, 2024

This is no surprise, since it is part of leftist dogma that Sharia is wonderful, and opposition to it “Islamophobic.”

NewsBusters is in error in this otherwise illuminating report when it says: “A possible flaw in the plan to cite Sharia law in their defense is the fact that it’s not a set of codified laws and can change based on an individual’s interpretation.” This is actually not the case. There is little variation in different forms of Sharia, as you can see from the fact that Sharia states, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, etc., have so many features in common. It’s a myth of Western Islamic apologists that Sharia is a multiply variable, undefinable thing.

“CNN Cites Taliban’s SHARIA LAW for Their Innocence in $1 Billion Defamation Suit,” by Nicholas Fondacaro, NewsBusters, August 5, 2024:

In their motion for summary judgment filed last week regarding the $1 billion defamation suit against them, CNN argued that their allegedly defamatory reporting accusing Plaintiff and Navy veteran Zachary Young of a crime was factually true because his efforts to get women and children out Afghanistan were illegal under Taliban law; or as it’s more infamously known: Sharia law. All as the U.S. approaches the three-year anniversary of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.

CNN’s opening paragraphs noted that Young had worked “to have women smuggled out of Afghanistan,” and argued “discovery has indicated that those activities he orchestrated and funded, which involved moving women out of Afghanistan, almost certainly were illegal under Taliban rule” (bold added to highlight).

The lead counsel for CNN’s defense, Deanna K. Shullman, wrote the motion and seemed enthusiastic about their line of argument. “Young cannot point to a single shred of evidence indicating otherwise that could somehow create a dispute of material fact as to that issue,” she wrote.

Throughout the document, CNN made it clear they intended to defend themselves with the laws they admit were oppressive of women. They repeatedly noted that Sharia law – as implemented by the Taliban – made it illegal for women to leave the country, which Young was helping them to do:

All of the journalism at issue in this case arose out of the events of August 2021, when the U.S. military withdrew from Afghanistan, leading the Taliban to take control of the country and ban women from leaving. Because thousands of women faced possible execution or enslavement at the hands of the new government (…)