BBC reaches settlement over Oryx diamonds libel

The BBC last night settled a long-running libel action with Oryx over a report falsely linking the mining firm with the al-Qa'ida network in the wake of the 11 September attacks.

A special report on the BBC's Ten O'Clock News on 31 October 2001 entitled "The diamonds that pay for Bin Laden's terror" stated that Mohammed Khalfan, a convicted terrorist jailed for the 1998 bombing of a US embassy in Africa, was a major shareholder in the company.

The allegations, which were false and arose because of a legitimate shareholder with a similar name, were not put to the company before the broadcast. Oryx lost orders, and credit facilities were withdrawn after the story was picked up by news networks in other countries. After the BBC realised that "a serious editorial mistake" had occurred, the corporation broadcast a full apology three weeks later.

Geoffrey White, the deputy managing director of Oryx, said: "I am satisfied with the result of this libel case. I am still baffled, however, as to how the BBC error could have happened in the first place. The special report caused considerable damage to our company and reputation, and we are pleased that this case is over."