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Pres. Ali’s mother sues Facebook and ‘Melly Mel’ for CAD$15M over defamation claims
(Kaieteur News) – The mother of President Irfaan Ali, Bibi Shariman Neshaw Ali, has filed a defamation lawsuit in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice against Meta Platforms Inc., Facebook Holdings LLC, Facebook Operations LLC, Facebook Canada Ltd and social media personality Melissa Ann Atwell-Holder popularly known as ‘Melly Mel’.
The lawsuit filed by attorney-at-law Selwyn Pieters stems from Facebook publications in which Mrs. Ali was referred to as a ‘gangster granny’ and allegedly implicated in corruption linked to her son.
President Irfaan Ali and his mom Bibi Shariman Neshaw Ali
Ali, a Canadian citizen residing in Ontario in her claim, is seeking general damages of $5 million, aggravated damages of $5 million and punitive damages of $5 million, along with special damages to be particularised at trial. She is also asking the court to declare that the defendants defamed her, order the removal and destruction of any copies or references to the defamatory publications from any medium accessible to third parties, and grant both interim and permanent injunctions restraining the defendants from publishing or disseminating any statements referring to her by name, depiction or description.
According to the court documents, Ali is a highly regarded and respected educator who taught in Guyana for decades at several institutions. The filing also states that she is a prominent member of the Guyanese-Canadian community and sits on the Brock Elementary School Board, where she began as a teacher before retiring in 2022 as principal.
Melissa Ann Atwell-Holder popularly known as “Melly Mel”
The lawsuit outlines that Meta Platforms oversees, develops, directs and operates Facebook and its related technological products, noting that the platform has billions of users across 157 countries who can post, access and interact with content.
Atwell-Holder is described in the filing as a social media personality who operates the Facebook pages “Melissa Ann Atwell (Melly Mel)” and “592 Media Inc.” The documents state that she has a combined following of approximately 89,000 on her Facebook pages. It further notes that Ali has never met Atwell-Holder, never interacted with her and has had no relationship with her beyond viewing her Facebook posts.
The claim alleges that Atwell-Holder engaged in what is described as a sustained campaign against Ali based on manufactured allegations intended to damage her reputation and professional standing.
Among the allegations referenced are posts and broadcasts of an interview between a journalist and a businessman which, the lawsuit says, maliciously and recklessly alleged that President Ali is corrupt and that his mother participates in corruption on his behalf, accepts bribes for him and coerces contractors for kickbacks. The filing also states that Atwell-Holder published a photograph of Mrs. Ali with her son, referring to her as a “gangster granny.”
The lawsuit further alleges that Meta and Atwell-Holder knew, or ought to have known, that the content would be widely republished and rebroadcast on social media platforms.
“Widespread republication of the defendants’ defamatory allegations is the predictable result of reporting incendiary accusations against the plaintiff, whose son at the same time was running in the national elections for re-election for the position of President of Guyana. The defendants are accordingly or severally liable for all republication and rebroadcast of the defamatory content,” the document states.
The claim also asserts that the defendants’ products facilitate and promote defamatory content, libel, cyber bullying, harassment, hate speech, misinformation/disinformation and other harms. According to the filing, Ali, through her lawyers, previously served Facebook with a notice of intended action, seeking a retraction, apology and damages in relation to the defamatory statements. The documents state that Facebook responded by saying, “it is not clear to us that the content you reported is unlawful as defamation.”
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