Ghafur

Plaintiff and appellant Khadija A. Ghafur sued defendants and respondents the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith (ADL), ADL’s Regional Director, Jonathan Bernstein, and ADL’s Regional Board Chair, Gil Serota, for libel for statements in a letter from Bernstein and Serota on behalf of the ADL to former State Superintendent of Public Instruction Delaine Eastin urging an investigation into plaintiff’s links to an Islamic terrorist organization, and a suspension of public funding for the charter school system plaintiff managed. This is an appeal from an order granting defendants’ motion to strike the complaint under the anti-SLAPP (strategic lawsuit against public participation) law (Code Civ. Proc., § 425.16) and from the resulting judgment against plaintiff.

In the published portion of the opinion, we hold that the alleged libel pertained to plaintiff’s role as a public official, and we explain why that conclusion, and the one we draw in the unpublished portion of the opinion— that there is no clear and convincing evidence defendants acted with actual malice in making the challenged statements — are dispositive in defendants’ favor. We affirm the order and…