What has just happened?
The Council of Europe has just issued the UK government with a Level 2 “media freedom alert”, for threatening press freedom after it blacklisted a group of investigative journalists and denied them access to information. It follows a similar warning issued in May this year and the exclusion of ‘The Independent’ from a technical briefing in February.[1]
What does this mean?
Ministry of Defence (MOD) press officers refused to work with journalists from Declassified UK, a website that focuses on foreign and defence policy stories, after journalist Phil Miller asked the British MOD press office for a comment on the case of a British soldier being investigated by the military police for protesting against the war in Yemen. MOD spokesperson, Lieutenant Colonel Richard Wade, refused to comment on Lance Corporal Ahmed Al-Batati’s protest outside 10 Downing Street on 24th August 2020 against the British government’s arming and support of Saudi Arabia. Wade then told Miller to submit a Freedom of Information Act request for an answer – an uncertain process that can take many weeks. When Wade was asked why the MOD afterwards gave a comment to a daily Telegraph report that took a different angle on the same situation, he told Declassified: “we no longer work with your publication”, effectively blacklisting the news site, in contravention of the Civil Service Code.[2]
The fact alone that Al-Batati was being investigated by the military police for protesting war is itself worrying. The following attempt of the government to censor supposedly free media is nothing short of frightening, to the extent that Council of Europe felt it necessary to issue the Level 2 warning on 4th September.[3] Added to this are the lack of reportage on the media freedom alert in the major broadsheets and the BBC. The latter comes as no surprise, given the appointment of Tim Davie on 1st September as Director-General of the BBC and his affiliation with the Conservative Party.[4]
Ahmed al-Babati (Image) - British soldier says UK has Yemeni 'blood on its hands' over Saudi arms sales.
Ironically, the formal warning came just as Boris Johnson and his cabinet condemned the actions of the environmentalist movement Extinction Rebellion as a “threat to press freedom”, when members blockaded printing plants to protest the newspapers' lack of climate coverage. Johnson and Home Secretary Priti Patel’s comments about the importance of a free press seem particularly hypocritical, given the Metropolitan Police’s unlawful ban on peaceful Extinction Rebellion protests in London[5] and the government’s efforts in February, May and the end of August to withhold information from the press.
Boris Johnson and his cabinet condemned the actions of the environmentalist movement Extinction Rebellion as a “threat to press freedom”, when members blockaded printing plants to protest the newspapers' lack of climate coverage.
With the “rule of six” coming into place on 14th September[6] due to coronavirus, the threat of the virus has served as a convenient and compelling reason for the government to prevent demonstrations by movements such as Extinction Rebellion and prominently also Black Lives Matter, on the basis that the protests went against government advice to avoid en masse gatherings in public or private places.
Another pertinent example is the cancellation of the Trans rights protest scheduled for 5th September 2020. Initially, organisers were reassured on 3rd September by the Metropolitan Police that there would be “no risk of arrests or fines” if the protest went ahead, because it did not pose a risk of danger. The next day, however, the police contacted organisers to tell them that any participants would be risking arrest.[7]
What does this mean for the legal sector?
The Council of Europe was set up in 1949 under the Treaty of London and the UK was one of its founding members. As an organisation it monitors human rights, democracy and the rule of law in Europe and is responsible for overseeing the European Convention of Human Rights.[8] Therefore, the current government’s attempts to suppress criticism by blacklisting journalists and entire outlets, limiting press freedom and stopping peaceful protests with threats by means of the authorities are in direct contravention of not only International[9] and European Law (which the UK is still subject to until Brexit) but UK Law itself[10]. The inconvenience investigative journalists cause for Whitehall and the disruption caused by peaceful protests are not grounds for these undemocratic responses.
One thing is certain – given the pressures of Brexit and Coronavirus, the future of UK human rights has never been so unclear or so hung by so thin a thread. It is a solace that even though the UK is leaving the EU, citizens are still protected by universal law and by the European Convention of Human Rights. The government would do well to remember it.
Written by Hannah Phelvin
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References:
[1] Jon Stone, 'Council of Europe issues media freedom alert over UK government blacklisting of investigative journalists' (The Independent, 6th September 2020).
[2] Richard Norton-Taylor, 'Ministry of Defence Blacklists British Journalists who report on UK military' (Declassified UK, 27th August 2020).
[3] Jon Stone, 'Council of Europe issues media freedom alert over UK government blacklisting of investigative journalists' (The Independent, 6th September 2020).
[4] Mark Sweney, 'BBC appoints insider Tim Davie as Director-General' (The Guardian, 5th June 2020).
[5] Damien Gayle, 'Police Ban Extinction Rebellion Protests from whole of London' (The Guardian, 14th October 2019).
[6] Libby Brooks and Steven Morris, 'The 'rule of six': what are the new UK coronavirus restrictions?' (The Guardian, 11th September 2020).
[7] Patrick Kelleher 'London trans rights protest cancelled after police ‘threaten to arrest participants’ hours before it was due to start' (Pink News, 4th September 2020).
[8] Jon Stone, 'Council of Europe issues media freedom alert over UK government blacklisting of investigative journalists' (The Independent, 6th September 2020).
[9] 'Article 10: Freedom of expression' (Equality and Human Rights Commission, 12 June 2020).
[10] 'The law and the right to peaceful protest' (DAS Law, 16th June 2020).
Disclaimer: This article (and any information accessed through links in this article) is provided for information purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.