it wrong. My client is happy with that—there was never anything more in it for him than getting that admission." This story was confirmed in Asharq Al Awsats sister publication, Arab News, which reported that the settlement had been reached amicably out of court without any payment for damages. However, on another occasion Asharq Al Awsat was accused of publishing a false interview regarding football club Portsmouth. The following day The Guardian mentioned that the interview was actually true. Prominent editors In addition to Jihad Khazen, other well-known past editors include Erfan Nizameddine, Othman Al Omeir (founder of Elaph), and Abdul Rahman Al Rashed (general manager of Al Arabiya between April 2004 and November 2014). Former editor was Tariq Alhomayed whose leadership earned mixed reviews as it was associated with much criticism of Asharq Al-Awsat. In July 2012, Adel Al Toraifi, chief editor of The Majalla, was appointed deputy chief editor of Asharq Al Awsat. On 1 January 2013, Al Toraifi replaced Alhomayed as editor of the paper. Al Toraifi's term ended in July 2014. Notable columns In 2016, Asharq al-Awsat published a report accusing Iranian pilgrims taking part in the Shiite Muslim commemoration of Arbaeen in Iraq of sexually harassing women, which was proven to be false, according to Agence France-Presse; the paper sacked its Baghdad correspondent over a report. The article had said that a World Health Organization report had described "unplanned pregnancies and [...] disease" seen "following the arrival of scores of unregulated Iranians to take part in the annual Shia pilgrimage to Karbala." According to the article, 169 unmarried women had become pregnant from the Iranian pilgrims. The UN's health agency said no such report had been published by WHO, and condemned mentioning its name in what it called "unfounded" news. According to Rana Sidani, spokeswoman for the WHO, the organization was "shocked" by the report. She said that they were "consulting with the Iraqi ministry of health on possible legal action against the paper." Haider al-Abadi, Iraqi Prime Minister, and "several other leading Shiite figures" condemned the Asharq al-Awsat'''s report and demanded an "apology". In April 2019, Saudi journalist businessman Hussein Shobakshi published a column in Asharq Al-Awsat in which he condemned the prevalence of anti-Semitism in Islamic culture. He claimed that this anti-Semitism had led to the Jewish exodus from Arab and Muslim countries. "The intensity of the Jew-hatred," he wrote, "disseminated by the