Glenn Beck Sued For Defamation by Marathon Victim

RADIO ONLINE | Wednesday, April 2, 2014

Syndicated Glenn Beck, who airs on his The Blaze network, distributed by Premiere Networks, is being sued for defamation over comments he made about Abdulrahman Alharbi, a 20-year-old Saudi Arabian student following the Boston Marathon bombing. Alharbi was injured at the marathon and later questioned by police, but cleared of wrongdoing. However, Beck wasn't convinced and he urged U.S. government officials to release information on Alharbi or Beck would "expose" him.

"Let me send this message very clear," said Beck. "We know who this Saudi national is... We know who this man is and, listen to me carefully, we know he is a very bad, bad, bad man." Later he alleged the U.S. government had "tagged' Alharbi as a "proven terrorist." He eventually called Alharbi an al-Qaeda "control agent" and the "money man" behind the attacks.

Alharbi filed the defamation suit against Beck last Friday in the U.S. District Court in Boston. The lawsuit claims that "Beck repeatedly and falsely identified Mr. Alharbi as an active participant, repeatedly questioned the motives of federal officials in failing to pursue or detain Alharbi and repeatedly and falsely accused Mr. Alharbi of being a criminal who had funded the attacks."

So far, Beck has offered no comment.