Press Release Oct 2, 2011

Media contact:

Rachel Ehrenfeld

Ph: 212-399-4246

ehrenfeld@acdemocracy.org

New York, NY – September 30, 2011: The updated edition of book that led to the strengthening of Americans’ free speech rights, FUNDING EVIL; How Terrorism is Financed – and How to Stop It, was released. Dr. Ehrenfeld describes what it took to successfully stop “Libel Tourism,” the phenomenon used to silencing American writers and publishers. Ehrenfeld’s latest version of Funding Evil details how a single Saudi billionaire financier of al- Qaeda, Khalid bin Mahfouz, managed to silence more than 45 writers and publishers – many Americans included – from exposing him and other terror financiers. He used British laws and courts that allow “libel tourism,” to conduct his “lawfare”, until he sued Dr. Ehrenfeld. She alone challenged him and the British courts and won.

Her initiative led to the passage New York State’s anti-libel terrorism law, aka “Rachel’s Law,” and to the national SPEECH Act, signed into law by President Obama in August 2010. These laws protect American writers and publishers in print and on the Internet from the enforcement of foreign libel judgments in the US.

Funding Evil identifies who funds terrorism and how they do it, and demonstrates why the Saudis don’t want you to read this book.

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Geopolitical analyst and media expert Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld shows that our understanding of terrorism is wrong. Instead of shadowy cells of young, poor and religious martyrs, the true face of terrorism is an international network of corrupt state leaders, super wealthy contributors and international drug and crime kingpins.

Her latest update of Funding Evil is a lively, well-documented primer that reveals the sources, the amounts and the armed terror organizations they support. Ehrenfeld focuses on the ironies of the West’s appetite for Arab Saudi oil and the geopolitical implications of not addressing how terror is funded worldwide, and how financial interests can stifle Americans’ free expression and national security.

Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld is director of the New York-based American Center for Democracy and its Economic Warfare Institute. She is a sought-after commentator and consultant on terrorist financing, economic warfare, political Islam, narco-terrorism, money laundering and political corruption, and the links between them. Dr. Ehrenfeld authored several books on these issues and her articles are published by CNN, the Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Guardian, FORBES and many other national and international publications. She appears as a guest on television news programs including CNN, FoxNews, NBC, and ABC News.

Her exposes in Funding Evil (originally published in 2003) led Saudi banker who had – according to US government officials – financed al Qaeda affiliated terrorists groups, including those associated with the 1998 bombings of American Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, and the 9/11 attacks. The billionaire, Khalid bin Mahfouz sued her for libel in Britain, despite the fact that her book was published and marketed only in the US. He sued there because England lacks free speech protections and its libel laws are pro-plaintiff.

Ehrenfeld, a U.S. citizen, refused to acknowledge the British court’s jurisdiction over her in Manhattan. Instead, she countersued the Saudi in New York, initiating a New York state law, the Libel Terrorism Protection Act (aka “Rachel’s Law”) in 2008. Similar laws have been passed in seven more U.S. states. The federal law – the SPEECH Act” unanimously passed in both the House of Representatives and the US Senate and signed into law by President Obama in August 2010. These laws strengthen the First Amendment guarantees to guard authors and publishers in print and on the Internet against enforcement of frivolous foreign libel judgments granted in countries that do not have the United States’ strong free speech protections. For additional information see: www.acdemocracy.org

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