BBC wins judicial review of prisoner interview refusal

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The High Court today ruled that the justice secretary's refusal to permit the BBC to carry out an interview with a prisoner, said to have been detained for more than seven years without trial, was "incompatible with the right to freedom of expression". According to the BBC the prisoner, Babar Ahmad, is a terror suspect who has been awaiting extradition to the US since 2004, with the European Court of Human Rights due to make a decision on his case. In a judgment today Mr Justice Singh ruled that the decision taken by Ken Clarke to refuse permission for a face-to-face interview was "disproportionate and therefore incompatible with the right to freedom of expression".

According to today's judgment, the BBC's home affairs correspondent Dominic Casciani was refused permission to perform the interview last year.

The BBC pursued with a judicial review, reporting that its counsel Lord Pannick "said that the refusal to allow an interview breached the journalist's freedom of speech as set out in Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights".

In a joint judgment Mr Justice Singh said it was accepted that the case "is highly exceptional" and should not be seen as setting precedent, but that "the unusual combination of facts ... in our view, justifies departure from the normal policy".

"More than that, in our view, the claimants’ rights under article 10 require that departure in the exceptional circumstances of this case, and the secretary of state has not been able to justify denying those rights on the facts of this case.

"However, the secretary of state is entitled to maintain the policy which he does: no challenge has been made to his entitlement to have such a policy in principle and to apply it to the great majority of cases. It is on the unusual facts of the present case that its application constituted a disproportionate interference with the right to freedom of expression."

The BBC said it was "pleased with the ruling".

In a statement a Ministry of Justice spokesperson said the justice secretary "accepts the judgment of the High Court".

"The Prison Service Instruction on prisoner access to the media is clear that prisoners should only be allowed face-to-face visits with journalists in exceptional circumstances. The Instruction is also clear that permission to broadcast interviews will normally be refused.

"The court was clear that this is a highly exceptional case. It upheld the general policy, and explicitly stated that 'we do not consider that the present case should be regarded as setting any precedent for other cases'. The Justice Secretary accepts the judgment of the High Court and does not intend to appeal the decision."