ALAN Jones must apologise on air for a racist rant where he called Sydney's
Lebanese Muslims "vermin" who "infest our shores" and "rape" and "pillage" our
nation, having failed in an appeal.
A $10,000 damages payment, which has been held pending an appeal, is also
expected to be released in coming days after today marked the end of a
seven-and-a-half year legal saga.

The saga was triggered by Jones'
comments on air just days before the Cronulla riots in 2005.

In three
separate occasions in April 2005, he made inflammatory comments about
Muslims.

In one he read a letter which was in response to footage of
young Lebanese men taunting police around The Rocks in Sydney on the day before
Anzac Day, which was aired on a TV current affairs show on April 27.

The
group of men called police "pigs", and mocked the Anzac traditions, but were not
arrested by police.



In the other two
broadcasts he commented about a Muslim sheik, Faiz Mohammad, who suggested that
women who wore short skirts or didn't cover themselves were to blame if they
were sexually assaulted.

Sydney Lebanese leader Keysar Trad complained
that Jones' comments in the three broadcasts breached discrimination laws and
incited racial hatred against Lebanese Muslims.

Trad won the first round
of the epic battle in the Administrative Decisions Tribunal in 2009 when the
tribunal ruled one broadcast in a radio show on 28 April 2005 "incited hatred,
serious contempt and severe ridicule of Lebanese Muslims" and Trad was awarded
damages of $10,000.

Trad appealed, in a bid to prove that two other
broadcasts in April 2005 had also targeted Muslims because of their race, and
Jones appealed in an attempt to overturn the finding of racial
vilification.

Both appeals failed, leaving the ruling of racial
vilification against Jones standing, but meaning that Trad has failed to prove
the other two broadcasts, on April 27 and April 28, breached racial
discrimination laws.

Speaking after the ruling was handed down today, Mr
Trad said he was happy that Jones was still required to apologise for calling
Lebanese Muslims "vermin", but disappointed that the tribunal didn't regard his
further comments as vilification.

Mr Trad said the tribunal has ordered
Jones to apologise. The apologies are to be both on air and in
writing.

"We want a proper heartfelt apology, we have been waiting for
seven years for an apology," Mr Trad said.

"We hope that this apology
wont add to the insult like the apology he gave to Prime Minister Julia
Gillard," Mr Trad said.

Mr Trad said Jones had said many more offensive
things about Lebanese Muslims since his comments in 2005, but "you can only run
one case at a time".

He said it was a pity that the law made it so
difficult to take action for racial vilification.

"The offender can keep
offending and it takes almost forever to get any relief [in court]," he
said.

Mr Trad said he had borrowed money from friends and family to meet
the estimated $100,000 legal bill of fighting the case.

The tribunal is
yet to rule on whether Jones should have to pay part of Mr Trad's
costs.

Jones' lawyers, Baker McKenzie, have not returned calls requesting
comment.