Khurrum Awan's Gripe (In Part): He's Not a "Sock." He's, Like, Totally "Independent"

On page 7 of his "Notice of Libel" against Ezra Levant (which was posted online three years ago; the case has come to court only now), Khurrum Awan takes umbrage at being called a "sock puppet":

It is false to state that Mr. Awan is a "sock puppet" for anybody. In fact, has independent involvement in the human rights complaints against Maclean's. He was an individual complainant before the Ontario Human Rights Commission and has put together a group of law students who had already made the decision to meet with Maclean's editors about the article, well before the Canadian Islamic Congress or Mr. Elmasry got involved in the matter.

Maybe so, but according to Wiki, Awan was "one of the complainants" in the British Columbia "human rights" case against Maclean's. His co-complainant was--wait for it--Naiyer Habib, the B.C. board director for the Canadian Islamic Congress, whose overall chief at the time was none other than the aforementioned Elmo. The B.C. kangaroos spent five days grilling Mark Steyn and witnesses were called to testify against him (including, as I recall, an expert on the topic of Buffy, the Vampire Slayer). A day after the hearing ended, Awan

spoke to a meeting of the Canadian Arab Federation and complained that since Maclean's is not a member of the Ontario Press Council or any similar body there is no authority within the profession of journalism, that can "condemn the journalist, condemn the publication, direct them to publish a letter to the editor." He added that he would "love" to see the case appealed into the regular courts.^[8] Awan also stated that:

And we have to tell them, you know what, if you're not going to allow us to do that, there will be consequences. You will be taken to the human rights commission, you will be taken to the press council, and you know what? If you manage to get rid of the human rights code provisions [on hate speech], we will then take you to the civil courts system. And you know what? Some judge out there might just think that perhaps it's time to have a tort of group defamation, and you might be liable for a few million dollars.^[8]

Say what you will about Awan. With the Levant lawfare case, he's shown that he's a man of his word.