The Grauniad has settled with Aslam:
A joint statement today said: “The Guardian and Dilpazier Aslam today confirmed they have reached agreement for the final settlement of an employment tribunal claim following the early termination of Mr Aslam’s contract as a trainee reporter with the Guardian in July 2005.
“No admission of liability by either side has been made, and the terms of the agreement will remain confidential.”
The newspaper launched an internal inquiry last summer following a piece written by Aslam for the paper’s comment pages entitled “We rock the boat”, which was published soon after the July 7 London bombings.
The article became the source of media speculation itself when the Independent on Sunday wrote about it and Aslam’s membership of political organisation Hizb ut-Tahrir. Rightwing bloggers added to the furore.The two sides today reached agreement and said no further comment would be made.
The Ablution has drafted a rather better version of the Guardian report:
“Soon after the July 7 London bombings, Aslam – whose association with the political organisation Hizb ut-Tahrir was already well known within the Guardian newsroom [DST speculates: ‘I guess that’s why they settled…’] – wrote a piece for the paper’s comment pages entitiled ‘We rock the boat’.
“The article finally became the source of media speculation, but only after bloggers from across the political spectrum wrote about it and Aslam’s membership of the extremist group, whose members are well known to advocate the killing of Jews. The print media picked up the story a bit later, after which the Guardian launched a belated internal inquiry – despite having been already aware that Aslam was a member of what the paper itself had previously described as “Britain’s most radical Islamic group”
