Unveiled: The Less Than Ordinary Legal Restraining Order
In the world of journalism, the concept of a superinjunction – a court order that not only prohibits reporting on a matter but also forbids discussing the fact that the matter cannot be reported – has been a topic of much debate. This article provides an overview of the superinjunction saga that unfolded in British politics, focusing on the leak of an Afghanistan database and its subsequent consequences.
Earlier this month, Holly Bancroft, a journalist at The Independent, reported on the government's decision to shut down publicly available pathways for new applicants for resettlement. The development was shrouded in mystery, with many questions surrounding the reasons behind this move.
The mystery deepened in 2023 when Lewis Goodall, a former BBC journalist, was privy to a leak concerning a British government's application for an injunction to stop the media from reporting on a leak of a database containing the names of British secret-service and intelligence personnel. Despite objecting to the superinjunction, Goodall was read the riot act.
The parliamentary intelligence committee announced an inquiry into the leak, but there is no publicly available information specifying which government officials requested the superinjunction or the reasons for such a request. The government's application for an injunction was upgraded to a superinjunction, meaning reporters aware of the leak could not only not report it but also couldn't talk about the fact they couldn't report it.
The superinjunction was finally lifted in 2023, and news of the leak got out. However, the saga didn't end there. Larisa Brown, the defense editor at The Times of London, stated that if she told someone about the superinjunction, she could end up in prison.
The existence of the superinjunction was now public, but lawyers for Trafigura, a company involved in a different superinjunction case, insisted that it still applied, gagging The Guardian from reporting something that had happened in a national legislature.
The superinjunction saga raised growing questions as to whether these orders were taken out for safety reasons alone. Frank Gardner, a security correspondent at the BBC, noted these concerns, while Goodall questioned whether politics played a major role in the decision-making process regarding the superinjunction.
In 2011, a different lawmaker named a senior banker and a well-known soccer player who were reported to have taken out superinjunctions. This incident further fuelled the debate about the transparency and accountability of these orders.
Johnny Mercer, a former lawmaker and veteran, criticised the Afghan resettlement process, suggesting that the superinjunction wasn't necessary since "everyone, including the media, seemed to know about" the leak already. He labelled the process as "the most hapless display of incompetence."
Simon Jenkins, a columnist at The Guardian, made a case that Britain should never have spent a quarter of a century trying to impose its rule on Afghanistan, akin to the argument that Bush's name should be included in media coverage of the mess surrounding the withdrawal.
In 2009, a preliminary scientific report concerning Trafigura's toxic waste dumping in Côte d'Ivoire was obtained by a reporter at The Guardian. This incident led to a report by top judges concluding that superinjunctions had been granted overly regularly, but said that they were now rarer and more controlled, and that the press should have the chance to contest them.
The superinjunction saga serves as a reminder of the delicate balance between national security, privacy, and freedom of the press. As the debate continues, it is crucial to ensure that transparency and accountability are upheld in the application of such orders.
Read also:
- United States tariffs pose a threat to India, necessitating the recruitment of adept negotiators or strategists, similar to those who had influenced Trump's decisions.
- Weekly happenings in the German Federal Parliament (Bundestag)
- Southwest region's most popular posts, accompanied by an inquiry:
- Discussion between Putin and Trump in Alaska could potentially overshadow Ukraine's concerns
