'Physically manhandling': Former PM Gilani sends defamation notice to Cynthia Ritchie

American blogger accuses Gilani of 'physically mishandling' and PPP Senator Rehman Malik of raping her

ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) senior leader Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani on Wednesday sent a legal notice to US blogger Cynthia D Ritchie, seeking an apology, damages of Rs100 million and denying that he never met her when he was the premier.

In a live video posted on her Facebook page, the American blogger had accused Gilani of physically mishandling and PPP Senator Rehman Malik of raping her.

Gilani, through his counsel Malik Javid Iqbal Wains, has sent the legal notice to Ritchie demanding an apology and asking her to deposit the amount of damages in the account of any charity foundation like Edhi or Cheepa for the welfare of public at large.



In the legal notice, the former prime minister has accused Ritchie of levelling a false, frivolous, baseless and vexatious allegation against him, saying he has great respect for women and has always spoken for their rights.

Gilani is "considered a role model and followed by a great number of persons around the world", the counsel said, adding that he reserves the right to initiate legal action against her on legal grounds other than the defamation suit.

The details of the notice emerged after Gilani’s sons shared the news on the microblogging website Twitter.

My father Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani through his lawyer has sent a legal notice of defamation to Cynthia D riche will she will soon receive. The libel will cost her 100million rps if she fails to prove otherwise .

— Ali Haider Gilani (@ahaidergilani86) June 10, 2020

Syed Yusuf Raza Gillani has sent a defamation notice to Ms Cynthia D Ritchie. pic.twitter.com/0VvQeuaYBN

— Kasim Gilani (@KasimGillani) June 10, 2020

Last week, Ritchie had claimed that Malik, the then interior minister, of spiked her drink and raped her at his official residence in 2011.

Ritchie posted the Facebook live video detailing how the PPP senator allegedly sexually assaulted and also accused two other senior PPP leaders of manhandling and harassing her.



Soon after, the PPP leaders released a statement denying the charges. “Senator A. Rehman Malik has endorsed the statement of former Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gillani wherein he has denied the allegations levelled by US Citizen Cynthia D. Ritchie.”

On Monday, Malik had served another defamation notice to Cynthia.

Malik, who is the chairman of the Senate standing committee on interior, has already filed a Rs500 million defamation suit against the US blogger through his lawyer in the Supreme Court.

The second defamation notice to Cynthia was sent for repeating her allegation while speaking on TV channels.