» SubscribeMain section
-
Top story
Another success for British justice
Annie Machon
DATELINE: 31/7/06
It was another resounding success for British justice, according to Annie Machon. Mr Justice Eady granted a permanent injunction against David Shayler in the High Court today (Friday 28 July). In a breathtaking ruling, Eady stated that David was not entitled to present evidence or cross-examine his accusers (again), but instead issued a summary judgement based on assertions made by MI5.
This means that David can now only talk about a restricted range of disclosures - specifically what appeared in the Mail on Sunday on 24 August 1997. This means that he cannot talk about a whole range of topics which are in the public domain and have already been cleared via the injunction and for the publication of my book, Spies, Lies and Whistleblowers.
Specifically, this means that, while I and the rest of the world can talk about state-sponsored false-flag terrorism, including the Gaddafi plot, David is banned. Very convenient when the 911 campaign is taking off.
The temporary injunction was issued in September 1997 on the explicit understanding that a full legal hearing would be needed before it could be made permanent. David has now been denied this.
Also, the injunction has been abused repeatedly, for example allowing the government to spin lies against him when he wished to reveal the wrongful conviction of two innocent Palestinians, Samar Alami and Jawad Botmeh, for the bombing of the Israeli embassy in London in 1994. Also, when he tried to alert the government to murder and a major terrorist attack organised by MI6 officers in the Gaddafi plot, he did so legally via the injunction.
For his pains, he was the one thrown in prison in Paris in 1998.
The injunction has also repeatedly been used to intimidate journalists (one of whom was tried and convicted) and to stop the media investigating the criminality of MI5 and MI6. With this ruling, the judge has also abolished at one stroke the media's right to publish whistleblowers' testimony if they can argue it caused no damage to national security.
If any future whistleblower emerges from the intelligence services, and is injuncted, the media has lost this defence, enshrined by parliament in criminal law (Section 1.5 of the OSA). And why is an injunction necessary anyway? There already exists a criminal sanction under the Official Secret Act. The judge was kind enough to say that the injunction was for David’s own good and would stop him having to break the OSA again! We are through the looking glass.
Yours in wonderland. Annie
Last modified: Monday, July 31, 2006
Previous free speech & censorship stories
MI5 whistleblower back in court
The Danish cartoon controversy and World Press Freedom Day
Improving Cultural Communication
The Need for Context
The Danish Cartoon Controversy
IFEX conference highlights freedom of expression
Statement of Media Professionals Meeting to Discuss the Danish Cartoons Controversy
Freedom of Expression or Hate Speech
Religion and Freedom of the Press
CPBF response to the cartoons
Cover-ups, lies and censorship
CPBF response to the cartoons
The Danish Cartoon Controversy
IFJ call for debate as cartoons cost editor his job
All the news that doesn't fit
Gagging the truth
Borris Johnson vows 'I'll go to jail to print the truth'
UK paper gagged over Aljazeera memo
Freedom of Information Blockage
FoI training from the Campaign for Freedom of information
Journalists worldwide protest Canada's news lockout
Australia gets tough on journalists
Government to consult over Freedom of Information and the PCC
A law unto itself
Community Newspaper uses FoI Act
Open the Books!
Freedom of speech - the global challenge
IFEX handbook on free expression campaigns
A message from the McLibel two
Using FoI
-
Notices
Events & Announcements
World Press Freedom Day
More reporters are currently imprisoned in Turkey than in any other country in the world. Only a matter of weeks ago lawyers failed to persuade a Turkish court to release a 76-year-old journalist from a Turkish internet news station.
World Press Freedom Day on Friday May 3, 2013 is being marked in Britain by a rally to highlight the dangers facing journalists in Turkey and in this podcast, Nicholas Jones speaks to Barry White, Organiser at the Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom, and Sam Bamford, the TUC's policy officer for Eastern Europe and Africa about the importance of a campaign to highlight international press freedom.
The World Press Freedom Day rally is being staged by the National Union of Journalists at the NUJ head office, Gray’s Inn Road, London WC1 on Thursday May 2, 6pm-8pm.
DATELINE: 27/4/13
UK launch of EU media campaign
DATELINE: 13/3/13
The UK launch of a 'European Citizens' Initiative' calling for EU rules against concentration of media power will take place on Thursday March 21 from 11:00am – 12:30pm in Committee Room 4A at the House of Lords, London. Guest speakers will include actor and activist Hugh Grant (pictured), media consultant Claire Enders, Professor Steven Barnett, Barry McCall (President of the NUJ) and Marc Gruber (Director of the European Federation of Journalists).
A European Citizens' Initiative is an official petition, like a Downing Street petition. If it succeeds in gathering a million signatures across the EU, the Commission is obliged to respond.
This petition calls for the EU to act to protect media pluralism and press freedom.
CPBF Annual General Meeting
DATELINE: 1/3/13
Make a note in your diary
Saturday 13 July 2013 from 10.00am
NUJ HQ, 308/312 Gray's Inn Road, London WC1.
Leveson, media ownership, CPBF future work.
DOWNLOAD FREEPRESS NOW
DATELINE: 26/3/10
Download Freepress in PDF, ePub or mobi format. Issue 194 now available.
MEDIA FOR ALL CONFERENCE
DATELINE: 26/3/10
Papers from the Media for All Conference
MEDIA MANIFESTO
DATELINE: 26/3/10
The media’s job is to inform and entertain us but we rely on them too to tell us what our rulers and representatives are up to. In the run-up to the Iraq war the government used spin and disinformation in the media to create panic and mislead people. The truth is coming out now, but we need stronger, more independent media to be able to scrutinise governments and make informed choices.
-
Previous stories
Free Speech & Censorship
MI5 whistleblower back in court
The Danish cartoon controversy and World Press Freedom Day
Improving Cultural Communication
The Need for Context
The Danish Cartoon Controversy
IFEX conference highlights freedom of expression
Statement of Media Professionals Meeting to Discuss the Danish Cartoons Controversy
Freedom of Expression or Hate Speech
Religion and Freedom of the Press
CPBF response to the cartoons
Cover-ups, lies and censorship
CPBF response to the cartoons
The Danish Cartoon Controversy
IFJ call for debate as cartoons cost editor his job
All the news that doesn't fit
Gagging the truth
Borris Johnson vows 'I'll go to jail to print the truth'
UK paper gagged over Aljazeera memo
Freedom of Information Blockage
FoI training from the Campaign for Freedom of information
Journalists worldwide protest Canada's news lockout
Australia gets tough on journalists
Government to consult over Freedom of Information and the PCC
A law unto itself
Community Newspaper uses FoI Act
Open the Books!
Freedom of speech - the global challenge
IFEX handbook on free expression campaigns
A message from the McLibel two
Using FoI
