NEWS LESSONS / Brought to book: Kabul author guilty of ‘betraying’ a nation / Elementary

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Brought to book: Kabul author guilty of ‘betraying’ a nation

Level 1

Elementary

Find the information

2

Look in the text and find this information as quickly as possible.

How much does Åsne Seierstad have to pay to Suraia Rais?

1.

Where is Åsne Seierstad from?

2.

How long did she live with the bookseller’s family?

3.

How much could she and her publishers have to pay in two to three months’ time?

4.

How much must the author and the book’s publisher pay in legal fees?

5.

How many people say Åsne Seierstad gave a false picture of the family’s life?

6.

__________________ is the offence of writing or saying something bad about someone that is not true and

1.

makes people have a bad opinion of them. (para 1)
If you feel __________________, you feel very embarrassed and ashamed. (para 1)

2.

The money that a court orders you to pay someone because you have harmed them or their property is called

3.

__________________. (para 2)
An __________________ is something that seems to show a lack of respect for someone or something.

4.

(para 3)
If you __________________ someone, you make a legal claim against them, usually to get money from them

5.

because they have done something bad to you. (para 3)
If you __________________, you formally ask a court of law or similar authority to change its decision.

6.

(para 5)
__________________ means

7.

very large in amount or degree. (para 6)

A __________________ is the introduction to a book. (para 8)

8.

A __________________ is an official document that tells someone to do something or stop doing something.

9.

(para 8)

writ sue appeal defamation damages

humiliated preface massive reveal insult

Key words

1

Fill the gaps in the sentences using these key words from the text. The paragraph numbers are given to

help you.

NEWS LESSONS / Brought to book: Kabul author guilty of ‘betraying’ a nation / Elementary

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Brought to book: Kabul author guilty of ‘betraying’ a nation

Level 1

Elementary

Brought to book: Kabul author guilty

of ‘betraying’ a nation

Amelia Hill

27 July, 2010
The author of the best-selling book The

Bookseller of Kabul has been found guilty of

defamation after she lost a court case brought by

a woman who said the book gave an untruthful

picture of her that made her feel humiliated.
Legal experts say the decision by a district

court in Norway will change the way in which

western journalists and authors write about

people from poor countries. Åsne Seierstad was

ordered to pay more than £26,000 in damages

to Suraia Rais, the second wife of bookseller

Shah Muhammad Rais, with whose family the

Norwegian writer lived for five months while

getting material to use in her book.
This case may not be finished yet. The other

members of the Rais family have also said

how angry they are about the book. They say

it is an insult not just to them but to the whole

Afghan culture. Now that Suraia’s case has been

accepted by the Norwegian judge, seven other

members of the family have said that they will

also sue the author. Shah Muhammad Rais, his

first wife, his mother, his two sons and his two

daughters have already prepared their cases

with the same lawyer who won the case for

Suraia. Seierstad and her publishers could find

themselves back in court in two to three months’

time, and could have to pay damages of up

to £250,000.
“Suraia’s success is a green light to the other

members of my family,” said Rais. “The penalties

that my mother and my first wife will ask for will

be higher than those my second wife asked

for because the defamation against them was

much greater. The money is not important to us,

though,” added Rais. “Seierstad has offered us

lots of money to settle the case out of court. She

even offered to write a second book containing

the truth about our family and about Afghanistan

but we did not accept those offers. We want a

court of law to tell the truth about this book in

public because it has insulted the honour of the

Afghanistan people.”

Seierstad and her Norwegian publisher,

Cappelen Damm, have also been told they must

pay legal fees of at least £63,000. Seierstad has

said that she plans to appeal. Her lawyer has

said the case could go to the European Court of

Human Rights.
All this comes from a book that was a massive

international success. In 2002, Seierstad

contacted Rais and asked if she could live with

his family in Kabul. She said she wanted to write

a book about Afghan culture and the story of one

family’s experience of the tragedy of civil war.
Rais says that the author was treated as an

honoured guest and taken to social events and

private family ceremonies. “We trusted her,”

he said. “We didn’t ask for any contract. We

didn’t even ask to see her book before it was

published. We treated her as a very important

person. The only thing I asked her to do was to

open her eyes to my family and friends, and give

a clear and clean picture of Afghan culture,” he

said. “There is so much told about our culture

that is wrong. I wanted her to show the truth.”
Instead, Seierstad wrote a story of a family that,

according to the book’s preface, was “based on

true incidents I have participated in or stories I

have been told”. Suraia said in her writ that this

was a lie. Instead, 31 members of the Rais family

and their neighbours say the author gave a false

picture of their lives. They say they have been

insulted and, in some cases, they felt humiliated.
The writ refers to facts in the book that do not

match each other. It also gives examples of

sections of the book where she revealed secrets

about the family’s sex lives and “forbidden

loves” – sometimes using their real names and,

in one case, an actual address. This behaviour

is so forbidden in Afghan culture that several

family members had to leave the country: Rais’s

first wife now lives in Canada with three of her

children. Several other family members moved

to Pakistan.
Seierstad has not commented on the case

but her publisher in London, Time Warner,

has promised to support her. However, Per

Danielson, the Rais’s lawyer, says the case is a

very important one for the publishing world.

1

2

3

4

9

5

6

7

8

10

NEWS LESSONS / Brought to book: Kabul author guilty of ‘betraying’ a nation / Elementary

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Brought to book: Kabul author guilty of ‘betraying’ a nation

Level 1

Elementary

If Åsne does appeal, this case could go on

for another five years but the Rais family are

determined not to drop the case. “This case

will definitely be the start of a new, international

trend because it shows that people can be

sued across borders. It shows that even a poor

person from Afghanistan can stand up and sue

someone in a different country,” Danielson said.

© Guardian News & Media 2010
First published in The Guardian, 27/07/10

The author wanted …

1.

The family believe …

2.

The author would like to …

3.

The family treated …

4.

The family didn’t ask …

5.

The author is planning …

6.

… to see the book before it was published.

a.

… settle the case out of court.

b.

… to appeal against the court’s ruling.

c.

… the book insulted their culture.

d.

… the author as an honoured guest.

e.

… to write a book about Afghan culture.

f.

Comprehension check

3

Match the beginnings and endings to make sentences about the text.

11

two in months’ three time to

1.

Court of the European Rights Human

2.

other members the of family seven

3.

another years five for

4.

£250,000 of damages to up

5.

is not the money important us to

6.

Chunks

4

Rearrange the words to make phrases from the text.

court

a. event

1.

honoured

b. rights

2.

human

c. case

3.

civil

d. member

4.

social

e. war

5.

family

f. guest

6.

Two-word expressions

5

Match the words in the left-hand column with those in the right-hand column to make expressions from

the text.

NEWS LESSONS / Brought to book: Kabul author guilty of ‘betraying’ a nation / Elementary

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CAN BE DOWNLOADED

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Brought to book: Kabul author guilty of ‘betraying’ a nation

Level 1

Elementary

Prepositions

6

Complete the phrases using these prepositions. Check your answers in the text.

on to on for in of

guilty _______ a crime

1.

according _______ the book’s preface

2.

participate _______ something

3.

based _______ true incidents

4.

comment _______ something

5.

_______ another five years

6.

Discussion

7

Would you like to read this book? Why? Why not?

NEWS LESSONS / Brought to book: Kabul author guilty of ‘betraying’ a nation / Elementary

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OCOPIABLE

•

CAN BE DOWNLOADED

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© Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2010

Brought to book: Kabul author guilty of ‘betraying’ a nation

Level 1

Elementary

1 Key words

defamation

1.

humiliated

2.

damages

3.

insult

4.

sue

5.

appeal

6.

massive

7.

preface

8.

writ

9.

reveal

10.

2 Find the information

more than £26,000

1.

Norway

2.

five months

3.

up to £250,000

4.

at least £63,000

5.

31

6.

3 Comprehension check

f

1.

d

2.

b

3.

e

4.

a

5.

c

6.

4 Chunks

in two to three months’ time

1.

the European Court of Human Rights

2.

seven other members of the family

3.

for another five years

4.

damages of up to £250,000

5.

the money is not important to us

6.

5 Two-word expressions

c

1.

f

2.

b

3.

e

4.

a

5.

d

6.

6 Prepositions

of

1.

to

2.

in

3.

on

4.

on

5.

for

6.

KEY