

Initiation of the Lawsuit

Sachedina says that only 2 people were involved in the issuing of the Statement Of Claim: Sachedina and Manji. Sachedina has a hard time pinpointing when the Imam gave the go-ahead to proceed with the Statement of Claim.


Sachedina #515 - #519:
Cross-Examination by Mr Jiwa.
Q. When did His Highness tell you that he has decided to issue this Statement of Claim?
A. When did?
Q. When did he tell you?
A. In fact, he discussed this matter the -- after the letter was sent, the second letter was sent, he
did speak to me and the president, Mohamed Manji that --
Q. Together?
A. No. He spoke to me and I believe he spoke to Mohamed separately, and then he sent us, you know, from his point of view a message to speak with -- you know, in the sense that there were discussions that we should also discuss amongst ourselves on this matter.
Q. So who discussed?
A. Mohamed and me were only involved, two people, because His Highness wanted to know whether what had happened so far, what are the actions that have happened so far, the fact that these farmans there has been no reaction, that these farmans have not been withdrawn in the sense that these books have not been withdrawn from circulation, so he was concerned.
Q. By the time that you --
A. And he wanted -- sorry. And he wanted to understand whether he continues in this Imam/murid relationship, which is what he wanted to do. And second letter, he felt after the second letter that he had done what is expected of the Imam in his way, and he was rather concerned that there was no action from the other side, from the murids, and he wanted to protect the integrity of his farmans.

Sachedina #523 - #527:
Cross-Examination by Mr Jiwa.
Q. So do you know -- I mean I'm going to ask you as precise as you can be in terms of date or day?
A. I'll try.
Q. Is when did he tell you that he has now decided to issue a Statement of Claim?
A. I think and I can probably -- this letter was in February. I think indications were that he was seriously now, all the avenues were -- he had exhausted the avenues from his perspective, which were that if an imam writes to a murid and a murid does not respond, or at least then went and accused for forgery, that was a serious matter for him. And he felt that if that was the case, then this was a matter of serious concern to him and that to protect the integrity of his works, his moral rights, he wanted to ensure that this, therefore, would have to go where legal recourse would have to come. Because before that we had said, both Mohamed and me, that we would try and resolve this as Imam -- between the Imam and the murid because that was the relationship between the murid and the Imam, that he wanted in the privileged setting to resolve this matter.
Q. Now, I was trying to get --
A. Yes.
Q. -- the date?
A. I think probably towards the end of March or April that he was thinking about -- towards end of March, I think.
Q. That he said he wanted to issue the Claim?
A. Well, that's the time he said, well, look, I think, you know, he would have to deal with it from a legal perspective.

Sachedina #766 - #767:
Cross-Examination by Mr Tajdin.
Q. Mr. Sachedina, the first announcement which we have already talked about was already talking of legal steps?
A. I -- at least not from my --
Q. That was --
A. The first announcement, as far as I'm concerned, doesn't talk about any legal steps at all, at
least in the --

Sachedina #771,:
Cross-Examination by Mr Tajdin.
Q. Okay, I'm just referring to the last sentence where it talks of copyright laws.
MR. GRAY: It says --
THE DEPONENT: Yes, but this practice constitutes a breach of the Ismaili Constitution as well as copyright laws, and appropriate steps have been taken to ensure that the unauthorized circulation of copies of these unauthorized publication ceases.

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