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19 January 2012
Issue: 7497 / Categories: Case law , Law reports , In Court
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Broadcasting—Freedom of expression—Access to prisoners

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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)

 

Queen’s Bench Division, Divisional Court, Hooper LJ and Singh J, 11 Jan 2012
 
A decision of the secretary of state for justice to refuse the BBC permission to conduct and broadcast a face-to-face interview with a prisoner was a disproportionate interference with the right of freedom of expression guaranteed by Art 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

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
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