The Return of "Sock Guy" Khurrum Awan

Those with good memories will likely recall Mr. Awan. He was one of the three young, fresh-faced Muslims--a.k.a. "the sock puppets"--who fronted for then-Canadian Islamic Congress chief Mohamed Elmasry; Elmasry had complained to three different "human rights" bodies about Maclean's magazine because it had published what he considered to be "Islamophobic" material, including an excerpt of Mark Steyn's book America Alone.  

Back then it seemed as though Awan was everywhere--writing op-ed pieces, appearing on TV solo and with the other sock puppets--and it appeared that he was being groomed to follow in Elmo's footsteps. Once it was clear that Elmasry had lost his "human rights" cases, though, Awan seemed to--poof--disappear. I believe he ended up in Saskatchewan.

Now, all of a sudden, he's ba-ack. And this time he's having it out with that other mouthy, "controversial," anti-Section 13 Canadian right-winger:

Controversial television journalist Ezra Levant will find himself in court Oct. 15 to answer for a series of blog posts in which he repeatedly called a Canadian Islamic Rights activist a liar. 

Mr. Levant, who hosts a daily show on Sun News Network, wrote the posts while covering unsuccessful human rights complaints against Maclean’s magazine for its coverage of the Islamic community over a two-year span.

Mr. Levant’s posts were critical of Khurrum Awan, a member of the Canadian Islamic Congress who spoke at the Canadian Human Rights Commission hearings and served as its youth president. In his statement of claim filed to Ontario Superior Court of Justice, Mr. Awan said Mr. Levant suggested he was “a liar, a perjurer, an anti-Semite, a con artist, unfit to be a lawyer and has acted in a conflict of interest.”

“The plaintiff has suffered mental distress, humiliation and loss of reputation,” reads the statement of claim filed by lawyer Brian Shiller of Ruby Shiller Chan Hasan Barristers. “The plaintiff has been shunned by former friends, ridiculed in various publications and is the subject of odium and contempt.”

In his statement of defence, Mr. Levant suggests any damage to Mr. Awan’s reputation was self-inflicted.

None of the allegations have been proven in court. Neither side would comment on the case, except to confirm the court date...

Update: It just struck me that Awan was described as a "Canadian Islamic Rights" activist--with all three words in the upper case. As if that's an official designation or something. (It isn't. Not yet, anyway.)