An
England footballer has obtained a super-injunction to prevent the media
revealing details of his private life.
He obtained the legal order on Friday night after discovering that a
Sunday newspaper was planning to publish an expose.
The star is the latest in a string of high-profile figures using
Draconian privacy laws to block the media from reporting on matters they
would rather keep secret.
The injunction has reignited the row over judges allowing celebrities
to restrict the public's right to know the truth.
MPs and civil liberties campaigners have expressed alarm at the ease
with which celebrities can obtain orders to gag the press.
Celebrities are increasingly relying on the injunctions to quash
negative stories, rather than using the libel courts to challenge them.
The existence of the latest super-injunction - so called because the
media are not even allowed to report details of their existence - is in
the public domain now only because a newspaper on which it was not
served published a report about it.
Update:
Playing Around at
No 2 for England
20th August 2010. Based on
article
from dailymail.co.uk
Another England footballer has won a draconian injunction to gag the
media from reporting revelations about his private life - the second in
a week.
The player, who cannot be named, is a father in a long-term
relationship. He won the restrictive order last night banning a woman
from publicising personal details about him.
Last night critics said he is part of an increasing trend which
allows highly paid sports stars with access to expensive lawyers to
exercise legal rights denied to ordinary members of the public.
In addition, the latest example of media censorship will reignite the
row over judge-made privacy laws which have never been approved by
Parliament. Instead, the orders are based on judges' personal
interpretation of human rights laws.
Both orders were granted at the High Court in London by Mr Justice
Nicol, on the grounds that the revelations would breach the footballers'
right to a private and family life.
Update:
Playing Around at
No 3 for England
29th August 2010. Based on
article
from dailymail.co.uk
Another England footballer has won a draconian injunction to gag the
media from reporting revelations about his private life - the second in
a week.
The gagging order was granted by High Court judge Mr Justice Kenneth
Parker to prevent stories of a sexual liaison, encounter or
relationship appearing in the media.
The order banned publication of private or personal photographs
stored on a mobile telephone. The telephone was later stolen and then
offered to national newspapers.
Update: Another
6th February 2011. See article
from telegraph.co.uk
Do you know who JIH is? Well, you shouldn't. He is a well-known
sportsman who has won an injunction restricting the publication of
allegations about his sex life. You cannot be told his name because the
Appeal Court has ruled that he should remain anonymous.
The judges decided that, since JIH had previously been the subject of
salacious stories about his sex life, were his name known it would be
easy to deduce that the new allegations must also be about a sexual
relationship, as indeed they are. This appears to suggest that the worse
an individual behaves, the greater his chance of securing anonymity.
