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Copyright Lawsuit: Defenses Glorifying the Aga Khan filed in federal Court - 2010-04-29

Date: 
Thursday, 2010, April 29
Location: 
Source: 
Heritage News
20100429-court-filings.jpg

In a surprisingly rapid twist of events, both Mr Tajdin and Mr Jiwa have filed their respective statements of Defense this 29th of April 2010. They affirm to being devoted followers who will unconditionally abide by the wishes of the Aga Khan, whom they glorify in their defense.

Mr Tajdin declares that:

He has not been served yet but the ethics imposed upon him by his faith demands that he should not keep in ignorance the public by being silent on the issue and should clarify all of the facts, pertaining to this lawsuit, of which he is aware.

He reaffirms his allegiance to the Aga Khan, is willing to submit to any of his wishes, and is ready to surrender himself and all his possessions to the Imam.

He has been printing Farman books since 1992 with approval and instructions from the Imam received on August 15, 1992 in Montreal.

He has not received any communication from the Imam from 1992 to 2009 instructing him to stop publication.

He cannot stop publication without instruction from the Imam as this would be a breach of his oath of allegiance to the Imam.

All Farman publications were financial deficit projects done as a volunteer service and large numbers of books were distributed free of charge.

Farman sharing is a historic Ismaili tradition which still continues today.

The current Ismaili Constitution does not restrict the right to publish Farmans

Mr Tajdin concludes that:

He has no choice but to await further direct instructions from the Imam.

He reaffirms his allegiance to the Aga Khan, is willing to submit to any of His wishes, and is ready to surrender himself and all his possessions to the Imam.

Mr Jiwa states that:

"This action does not appear to have been authorized personally by the Aga Khan .."

"In distributing Farman books obtained from Tajdin to other Ismailis, he has not violated either the Ismaili Constitution or any Farmans"

He has not violated the copyright act as "Tajdin was given express authority by the Imam" and regardless of the fact that "the limitations period provided for by the Copyright Act also bars this action as the books containing the Farmans were commenced publication in the year 1992", he will still do whatever the Imam tells him to do.

Mr Jiwa clarifies finances:

He "obtains these books for C$50.00 and sells them for C$50.00 or gives them free, without any profit.

"All monies received by him from the sale of (other) books after 2005 were delivered to the Jamatkhanas"

Mr Jiwa further states that:

"If the Imam edited the Farman before releasing to the Jamats, in effect he is superceding the Farman he made orally previously."

He "unconditionally reconfirms his oath of allegiance to his Imam" and "if the Imam does not desire his Farman books to be distributed to the Jamats (...) this defendant will submit to the instructions of His Imam without reservation whatsoever"

Replies From the Plaintiff are due within 10 days, and Affidavits of Documents are due 30 days later.

[Update from May 6: Ogilvy Renault, the law firm which launched the case has asked for an extension of 15 days to reply to the Defense. They claim delays due to breakdown of email servers, blackberry communication, travel of senior lawyer, time difference with Paris etc...The more delays in this file, the more damage it creates to the reputation of the Ismaili community, the Imam and the defendants. It is to the advantage of all parties that this case be withdrawn from the courts.]

[Update from June 22: Defendants have filed a Motion for summary Judgement to have the case dismissed.]

[Update from September 5:
Online Book that gathers court materials as well as articles that are currently available for the ongoing 2010 Lawsuit:

Copyright Lawsuit 2010: Online Book of All available Materials
News on cross-examinations:
Copyright Lawsuit: CROSS_EXAMINATIONS Table of Contents - 2010-09-04
Latest Development
Copyright Lawsuit: Imam Appears for Discovery and Ends the Case - 2010-10-15
As users are asking to read the letters from Nagib and Alnaz on the court docket, the latest have been attached on the following link:
A. Various Court Filings

Revised Factums have been posted Here:
2010-11-29 Summary Judgment : Plaintiffs Revised Combined Factums of Reply and of Motion
2010-11-29 Summary Judgment: Defendants' Revised Factums of Motion and of Reply

There has been proven fraud in the recent past in the Aga Khan's domain by the Aga Khan's agents:
Aga Khan Lawsuit: Fraud at Aga Khan Studs - 2000-02-22

2011-05-25: A Jamati Member who has never met the Defendants volunteered as his brotherly duty to pay the $30,000 that was demanded in the Plaintiff''s submissions and that was accordingly ordered by the judge.
Read the full details of the $30,000 payment directly to H.H. The Aga Khan.

2011-06-16: The Appeal Memorandum of Fact and Law against the Summary Judgment has been filed in court by the defendants on June 16th, 2011.
Read the Full Appeal Memorandum of Fact and Law

Link to Court Docket Case T-514-10
Link to Court Docket Appeal A-60-11
Link to Court Docket Appeal A-59-11
Link to Court Docket Appeal A-156-13

Latest News Comments

AttachmentSize
Tajdin Defence Apr 29.10.pdf491.02 KB
Jiwa AK Defence Apr 29.10.pdf543.82 KB

Comments

EId Mubarak & Letter

Eid Mubarak. I have written the following letter, which I have also shared with the Leadership.

Dear President Malik & ex President Manji

I refer to the following comment on Ismaili.net. I am writing to you regarding specifically the giving, explaining, publishing, and interpreting of all Farmans (including the constitution), to the Jamats and also to, Mukhis, IIS & Waezeens.

Can you please confirmwhat Shafik Sachedina (SS) and Mohammed Keshavjee are saying is correct, and if;

1 Mr Manji as President, gave to SS a copy of the Canadian Farman dissemination process, (FDP) dated 17th March 2010, which incorporates a letter from M Keshavjee dated in 26th May 2008 ?
2 FDP was given to SS to exhibit in a lawsuit against Nagib Tajdin and Alnaz Jiwa filed on 6th April 2010, and to also send to Hazar Imam for approval
3 FDP which the Canadian Council (M Manji) gave to SS was approved by and was given to SS in consultation with your Council members
4 FDP was given to SS after it was formally approved by the Council and by ITREB as bodies
5 If the Farman policy was sent to Hazar Imam for approval, then do you agree that this was not an approved Farman policy and should never have been exhibited in court. This can have very serious consequesnces going forward.
6 If this was sent only for information then ITREB Canada is autonomous and so is M Keshavjee because he issued the letter on 26th 2008 which forms a part of the Farman policy dated 17th March 2010 ( What I also find concerning is that the Farman Policy is dated 17th March 2010. The lawsuit was filed on 6th April 2010 and Shafik swore his affidavit on 25th June 2010. Therefore Shafik in asking for this policy knew before 17th March that he will be filing an affidavit in a lawsuit. However he confirmed in court that he did not know about the lawsuit until 30th March 2010 and that Hazar Imam spoke directly to M Manji – Can you and Mr Manji look into this and share the facts )
7 Hazar Imam has not submitted any affidavit in this lawsuit, as you know. SS has confirmed under oath that Hazar Imam did not ask SS to submit any affidavit in this lawsuit.
8 Bearing in mind also the attached 57 reasons and Farmans, and directions given by Hazar Imam on 15th October 2010.
By a copy of this letter to President and ITREB UK, I am requesting them to clarify or confirm if the Farman policy in London before 17th March 2010 and since has remained the same, and or is the same as that of Canada.
By a Copy of this letter to M Keshavjee I am asking him to confirm and clarify the above facts, as he was the head of ITREB, globally at the material time and Governor of IIS and Head of CABS training. I also invite him to respond to earlier communication.

As you know I have repeatedly suggested internal meetings to resolve concerns, complaints, and to work together. In this context I invite you to read the following Farman, and what Hazar Imam said last week in London, which applies equally to us , if not more.

“ My beloved spiritual children, I want you to remember what I have said earlier about the Jamat working together. From today onwards, those of you who are in positions of responsibility, positions of authority in my Jamat, every morning and every evening I would like you to ask yourselves: “Have I treated the other members of the Jamat and have I behaved towards them the way my Imam has told me I should, or have I got a black heart? And if I have not behaved the way I should have behaved, then let it be tomorrow that I will behave the way I should have behaved; and let me never do again something which my Imam has told me I should not do towards other spiritual children in our Jamat.” I want this to be well understood, that those who do not behave in a brotherly manner towards other spiritual children in the Jamat, have for me black hearts and I do not want to hear that any spiritual child in this Jamat has a black heart. I give my best loving blessings, especially so that you should work together and that you should have these true feelings of brotherhood and sisterhood.
Khanavadan, Khanavadan.” Sidhpur, 14 November, 1967.

“ People coming together coming around a common purpose are much stronger, for example, in eliminating corruption. When an individual faces corruption, that’s a problem. When a village community faces corruption, it is a totally different issue. And in fact corruption in civil society is probably one of the most damaging forces we are trying to deal with every day. It’s not only corruption at the level of government. It’s corruption in education, it’s corruption in healthcare, it’s corruption in financial institutions, it’s corruption in rural support, in distribution of goods. So the lack of ethics in civil society is one of the very, very great issues that we have to deal with. And what we’ve found, is that the community organisations when they come together — what do they look at? It’s very exciting. Their whole basis of hope is built around best practice. They reject all the things that have damaged them individually and they come together and say that we want a new future, built around new people, whom we choose because we trust them.”
-- Acceptance Address and Interview – David Rockefeller Bridging Leadership Award Ceremony hosted by the Synergos Foundation (London, United Kingdom) 22 October 2012
http://www.nanowisdoms.org/nwblog/10256/

Farman Policy - Manji
On October 26th, 2012 Bloglaw (not verified) says:
Shafik Sachefina says M Manji gave him the Farman sharing Policy of Canada which Canada M Manji has decided. Shafik Sachefina adds that what M Manji have to him he has used in court and he has submitted it to Hazar Imam ! so Imam had not yet approved it ? And yet Shafik says Imam is Plaintiff ! What a contradiction and what nonsense ! Read what he said on the record
" Cross-Examination by Mr Jiwa on record
Q. I'm going to ask you to refer to your Affidavit's Exhibit B in your Affidavit. Now, this says, 'ITREB Canada Farman Dissemination Process.' And you've given this as part of your evidence. And where did you get this from?
A. This is a document that has been the process that they follow in Canada, and I asked them just to make sure -- that the Imam wanted to see what the process was. So that's what they put down, is a process which has been what is in place in Canada.
Q. And so who gave this to you?
A. It came from the National Council president.
Q. From Canadian president?
A. Yes. Because it was through the ITREB Canada to give to the president and it has come. Because it was a process that we just wanted to make sure that what is the process followed, and that's what they have given, that this is the process they followed.
Q. All right.
A. And it was given to me, and I also submitted this to Hazar Imam."
Mr Sachedina and Mr Manji - you cannot fool all the Jamat all the time - time has come for the truth ! Germany


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