“Bin Laden filmmaker sues Michael Moore,” from WND, with thanks to EPG:
An Egyptian associate of Osama bin Laden plans to sue American director Michael Moore for allegedly using images of the terror chief in the Bush-bashing film “Fahrenheit 9/11” without permission.
Essam Deraz took almost four years getting footage of the head of al-Qaida at training camps in Afghanistan. He’s reportedly the only person to capture bin Laden on film in the late 1980s.
“I was the only cameraman with the Arabs,” Deraz told London’s Sunday Times. “All of those shots of bin Laden talking in the cave, talking into his walkie-talkie, they were all my work.
“I was there from 1986-89 and was in contact with bin Laden on many occasions. I saw him in Peshawar in Pakistan and in Jalalabad in Afghanistan. The film clips in ‘Fahrenheit 9/11’ — five of them — were mostly shot in March and April 1989.
“I was wounded twice and on one of those occasions bin Laden arranged for me to be taken to hospital in his vehicle. These are the only film clips ever taken that show bin Laden on the battlefield.”
Deraz worked for the BBC in the 1970s and says he had no sympathy with al-Qaida, which wasn’t in existence when his footage was shot.
“Now I find that Mr. Moore’s film is being distributed in America and in other countries and I have received nothing,” he told the Times.
Deraz has filed a petition with the Egyptian public attorney, laying a claim to intellectual property rights. He’s looking for the film to be confiscated until a financial resolution is reached.