A Palestinian man has begun court action against the British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen for wrongly portraying him as a terrorist in the film 'Bruno'.
Ayman Abu Aita says he is a Christian peace activist who has always been opposed to violence.
In the movie, Cohen plays a gay Austrian fashion journalist trying to make it big in the United States. To achieve worldwide fame, Bruno travels to the Middle East to make peace.
He interviews Abu Aita, and a caption labels the Bethlehem shopkeeper as a member of the militant Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade.
Abu Aita is suing CBS and Letterman's company Worldwide Pants over an interview before the film's release where the Late Show host and Cohen discussed Bruno's encounter with a "terrorist."
In the interview, Cohen, 37, said he set up the meeting in the West Bank with the help of a CIA agent.
Cohen said he feared for his safety and interviewed the "terrorist" at a secret location chosen by Abu Aita.
According to the lawsuit, however, the interview with Abu Aita took place at a hotel chosen by Cohen and located in a part of the West Bank that was under Israeli military control.
Several production companies are also named in the lawsuit.
Mr Aita says he was tricked into thinking the film was a documentary about the Palestinian cause, and the film has destroyed his reputation and now forced him to sell his business.
Aita 'has a strong case'
Mr Aita's lawyer, Joseph Peter Drennan, says he believes the Palestinian man has a strong case.
"His character has been assassinated. He has sustained significant damages," he said.
"He wishes to receive the compensatory relief that he is entitled to and re-establish his good character."
Multiple lawsuits
Cohen, a British comedian, also faced multiple lawsuits after his earlier movie, Borat, including one for $US30 million ($A33 million) filed by residents of a remote Romanian village who said they were misled into thinking the project was a documentary about poverty.
Most of the lawsuits were thrown out.
Abu Aita is prominent businessman, a Christian and a "peace-loving person who abhors violence," the latest lawsuit states.
Before the film, he "enjoyed a good reputation for honesty and a peaceable nature" in his community, Abu Aita's lawyers wrote.
They go on to write that any accusations or insinuations that Abu Aita is or ever was associated with the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade, or any other terrorist activity is "utterly false and untrue."
Lawyer Joseph Peter Drennan said Abu Aita was never offered a release to sign to appear in the film.
"This is an important lawsuit because it is about the dignity of a specific person. It is about his reputation, about his standing in the community," Drennan said.
"It addresses a very corrosive and calumnious slur against any young Palestinian who could be a political activist on the West Bank" who would be called a "terrorist" because of his activism.
Hatem Abu Ahmad, Abu Aita's Arab-Israeli lawyer, said Cohen made millions "on the back of my client."
The film drew disdain from the Israelis and Palestinians portrayed in a place Bruno calls "Middle Earth."
Drennan said he expects a hearing on the Abu Aita's complaint in late January.
