Published on 25 May 2007
23 June 2009 - Belfast court ruling “a victory for press freedom”
11 May 2009 - Northern Ireland police take journalist to court over source material
3 August 2007 - London appeal court quashes judge’s gagging order
Reporters Without Borders today strongly condemned the British parliament’s approval of amendments to the Freedom of Information Act, including one that would bar access to details of MPs’ expenses.
“If these measures become law, it would be a setback,” the press freedom organisation said. “Access to information is a basic principle of democracy and for MPs to hide details of their spending is a serious blow to the public’s right to be informed. The motives for such a move are unacceptable.”
The bill, introduced by Conservative MP David Maclean and passed by the House of Commons (the elected lower house of parliament) on 18 May, remains to be approved by the House of Lords (the unelected upper chamber). Despite strong opposition led by Liberal Democrat MP Simon Hughes, the measure could soon become law, on grounds that it is needed to protect the privacy of MPs’ correspondence.
Critics accuse MPs of trying to hide excessive spending. Liberal Democrat MP Norman Baker said after the Commons vote that it was a “terrible day” for parliamentary democracy and that he was “ashamed to be an MP.”
The Freedom of Information Act, which came into effect in January 2005, allows the public and the media access to most information held by the authorities and has enabled the media to obtain hitherto inaccessible information.
He is the editor of Erk, the last opposition newspaper in Uzbekistan until it was banned by the authorities in 1993, and he was jailed on 18 August 1999 in the wave of repression after the failed assassination attempt on President Islam Karimov in Tashkent on 16 February 1999.
