How a Man Once Ordered to Pay Libel Damages Helped Launch an Investigation Into Islamic Private Schools

Nearly a decade ago, a British court ordered a man named Sam Westrop to pay the equivalent of more than $173,000 in libel damages after he published an article on his website calling the founder of a London-based Islamic TV channel a “convicted terrorist.” Westrop eventually admitted the underlying evidence for the claim was not reliable, according to court filings, and corrected the story on his website. “There simply was no evidence to support the allegation of terrorism,” the judge in the case wrote. Years after that ruling, Westrop made similar claims about a group of Islamic private schools in Texas that had applied to the state’s new voucher program. He alleged the school leaders had connections to Islamic extremist or terrorist groups, such as Hamas. Westrop shared his research as e