Axed Labor man’s $250,000 court win over ‘dirt sheet’ email

A ‘dirt sheet’ emailed from New York destroyed Nurul Khan’s Labor dream. Now he has scored a major win in his quest to unmask who was behind the global plot.

Dumped Labor candidate Nurul Khan with former Victorian Labor premier Daniel Andrews.

A Victorian ALP candidate whose political career was destroyed by a “dirt sheet” emailed from New York on the eve of the last state election has been awarded $250,000 in damages by the Federal Court.

In a significant ruling on Tuesday, Justice Catherine Button ordered former Labor candidate Nurul Khan be awarded the six-figure compensation over the email that triggered Labor to dump him as an upper house candidate just weeks before the 2022 election.

A Brooklyn man identified in legal documents as Mohammad Saif Uddin has been ordered to pay the damages for sending the email containing defamatory claims to Labor MPs and media outlets.

“This is a great outcome … an important step in my journey for justice,” Mr Khan told The Australian.

“It’s not about the money but about my reputation and justice, and though the (legal) process is now finished in Australia, it is only beginning in the United States.

“I have come all the way to get these outcomes because I want to know who was behind this.”

Mr Khan has been waging a two-year legal fight to unmask who was behind the “dirt sheet” email under the account name of david­[e-mail], and was forced to take legal action against global tech giant Google to identify who sent the email.

Mr Khan believes Mr Uddin sent the defamatory email on behalf of Melbourne-based political rivals in the ALP who wanted to destroy his chances of being elected in the western metropolitan region.

The Brooklyn apartment where the man linked to the anonymous Labor Party ‘dirt sheet’ that destroyed ALP candidate Nurul Khan’s political career lived.

The [e-mail] email arrived at 1.18am on November 9. Three days later the Victorian ALP axed Mr Khan as a candidate.

Mr Khan suspects federal ­Victorian Labor MPs, party figures and members of the Bangladeshi community were involved in a conspiracy to end his political career.

He was swiftly dumped by Labor as the preselected candidate for the upper house after the email was sent, and as a result quit the ALP claiming he was denied a fair hearing.

Mr Khan said if Mr Uddin wanted to avoid having to pay the damages he must disclose the names of those Melbourne rivals who asked him to send the email.

“I’ll pursue this until I find out who the local conspirators are,” he said.

In an earlier ruling, Justice Button found against Mr Uddin, who had refused to engage with the legal hearing in the Federal Court. “Here, the respondent (Mr Uddin) has shown no desire to participate in the litigation in any way,” the judge ruled.

“Moreover, the evidence of the applicant’s (Mr Khan) solicitor suggests that the respondent has sought to evade service.”

In late 2023, The Australian knocked on the door of the Brooklyn apartment linked to the plot and a woman who identified herself as Mr Uddin’s cousin said he had moved out.

“He is not here anymore,” she said. “He is my cousin but he’s not living here anymore.

“He used to live here. He’s changed his (mobile) number … (and) I do not (know where he now lives), sorry.”

One of the highest legal hurdles Mr Khan had to clear was taking action against Google. But in July last year, the Federal Court ordered Google to reveal key details ­behind the Gmail account [e-mail].

The tech giant then disclosed the registration details of the email account, including a ­birthdate of March 13, 1972, and a New York ­mobile phone number used for verification when it was set up.

Mr Khan also obtained the IP address of the computer used to send the email, allowing his legal and investigative team to link the email to an address in Brooklyn.

The Victorian ALP has defended moving swiftly to axe Mr Khan, saying the integrity of its candidates was a priority.