'Bookseller of Kabul' writer to pay subject

[July 26, 2010]  OSLO, Norway (AP) -- A lawyer says the author and publisher of the best-selling "The Bookseller of Kabul" have been sentenced to pay 250,000 kroner ($40,200) in damages to a woman portrayed in the book.

Cato Schiotz says the Oslo district court has ruled his client, war correspondent Asne Seierstad, breached the privacy of Afghan Suraia Rais in her book, named after Rais' husband Shah Mohammad Rais.

Seierstad lived with the Rais family in Kabul in 2002 and published the book, about their personal relationships and feelings, as nonfiction shortly after.

Schiotz said Saturday the court ruled Seierstad had used inaccurate information in her accounts of Rais and didn't act in good faith.

He says he is very disappointed with the ruling and will encourage Seierstad and the publisher, Cappelen Damm, to appeal.

[Associated Press]

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