The article that started the dispute between Craig Murray and Alisher Usmanov is now distrbuted far as wide on sites as diverse as the Atlantic Free Press [  http://www.atlanticfreepress.com/content/view/2474/81/ ] and Slashdot [  http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=308417&cid=20751941 ].

Craig Murray has said that "If the man believes he was libelled then he should take me to court" [  http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/09/25/murray_usmanov_defiant/ ] but Shillings have made it clear that they "did not intend to sue Murray directly because they did not want to give him a platform to express his views" [  http://football.guardian.co.uk/News_Story/0,,2177271,00.html ].

However the actions of Shillings have clearly resulted in far more people getting to see what Craig Murray has written about Alisher Usmanov as bloggers from across the political spectrum have reposted his article, including Paul Stott [  http://paulstott.typepad.com/i_intend_to_escape_and_co/2007/09/craig-murrays-a.html ], Lenin's Tomb [  http://leninology.blogspot.com/2007/09/what-happens-when-you-annoy-bumpkin.html ] and the Wombles [  http://www.wombles.org.uk/article2007091273.php ].

The case has also been covered by The Register [  http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/09/24/usmanov_vs_the_internet/ |  http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/09/25/murray_usmanov_defiant/ ] and Index on Censorship: Bloggers unite against intimidation [  http://www.indexonline.org/en/news/articles/2007/3/britain-bloggers-unite-against-threats.shtml ].

The editorial in the current issue of The Socialist Worker sums up why this case is of great importance:

Craig Murray - An attempt to silence

Craig Murray, the former British ambassador to Uzbekistan, was sacked by the British government for his stand against the torture and rights abuses by the Uzbek regime.

Since then he has been a tireless campaigner against the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, exposing the hypocrisy of Western governments that preach about human rights while running torture camps like Guantanamo Bay.

In the course of his campaigning, Craig has seen off several attempts to use lawyers to gag him. The latest attack has led to his website www.craigmurray.org.uk being taken down by the company that hosts it, Fasthosts Internet Ltd.

The move came after Craig made allegations about Alisher Usmanov, the Uzbek businessman who has recently bought a part of Arsenal. Usmanov’s lawyers sent out letters to Fasthosts, forcing the company to take Craig’s site down.

Whatever the merits of Craig’s allegations against Usmanov, this move to crudely silence him represents nothing less than corporate censorship. Everyone in the anti-war movement should back Craig’s right to speak out.

 http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/art.php?id=13096