R (on the application of British Broadcasting Corporation and another) v Secretary of State for Justice [2012] EWHC 13 (Admin), [2012] All ER (D) 29 (Jan)
Lord Pannick QC and Tim Cleaver (instructed by BBC legal department) for the claimants. James Eadie QC and Martin Chamberlain (instructed by the Treasury Solicitor) for the secretary of state.
The claimants, the BBC and one of its home affairs correspondents, applied for permission to conduct a face-to-face interview with a prisoner. The claimants also wished to broadcast the filmed product of that interview. The prisoner had been held without charge in the UK and his extradition had been sought by the US in relation to suspected terrorist offences. Initially, a junior minister