𝗧𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘆 𝗥𝗼𝗯𝗶𝗻𝘀𝗼𝗻 𝗷𝗮𝗶𝗹𝗲𝗱 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗺𝗽𝘁 The High Court sitting at Woolwich has sentenced Stephen Yaxley-Lennon to 18 months imprisonment (less 3 days) for contempt of court. On the first day of a 2-day hearing, Mr Yaxley-Lennon admitted 10 breaches of a final injunction imposed on him by Nicklin J in the libel case of 𝐻𝑖𝑗𝑎𝑧𝑖 𝑣 𝑌𝑎𝑥𝑙𝑒𝑦-𝐿𝑒𝑛𝑛𝑜𝑛 in 2021. Four of the breaches concerned the publication of his film “silenced”, including by playing it on giant screens in Trafalgar Square and posting it on X where it has received some 44 million views. The remaining breaches concerned online interviews in which Mr Yaxley-Lennon repeated allegations that had been the subject of the libel action. Johnson J stipulated that 4 months of the sentence is “coercive”, i.e. it would be open to Mr Yaxley-Lennon to apply to have that part of the sentence discharged if he were to show a commitment to complying with the injunction in the future, e.g. by removing the film from social media. The Court also awarded the Solicitor General her costs of the proceedings. 5RB’s Aidan Eardley KC was leading counsel for the Solicitor General, instructed by the Government Legal Department. 5rb.com/news/hm-solicitor-ge…

𝗝𝘂𝗱𝗴𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗗𝗿 𝗔𝘀𝗵𝘁𝗶 𝗛𝗮𝘄𝗿𝗮𝗺𝗶 𝗼𝗻 𝗢𝗖𝗖𝗥𝗣’𝘀 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝘁𝘂𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗱𝗲𝗳𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 Mrs Justice Steyn handed down judgment on 23 August 2024 following a trial of preliminary issues of whether parts of an article published on the OCCRP’s website (“The Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project”) are protected by qualified privilege pursuant to s 15 of the Defamation Act 1996 and of the issue of meaning. The Claimant, Dr Ashti Hawrami, served as the Minister of Natural Resources in the newly formed Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq (“the KRG”) from May 2006 until July 2019 and then as the Assistant Prime Minister for Energy Affairs in the KRG until early 2022. He has brought defamation proceedings against the Defendants, Journalism Development Network Inc., which is the publisher of the OCCRP website, and two journalists for a website publication entitled “The Rise and Fall of a US Oilman”, which contained references to Dr Hawrami. The Defence disputed the defamatory meanings complained of by Dr Hawrami, denied that the publication was defamatory of him and relied, in the alternative, upon statutory qualified privilege as a fair and accurate report of the judgment and proceedings in a High Court commercial case 𝑬𝒙𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒃𝒖𝒓 𝑽𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆𝒔 𝑳𝑳𝑪 𝒗 𝑻𝒆𝒙𝒂𝒔 𝑲𝒆𝒚𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝑰𝒏𝒄 & 𝑶𝒓𝒔 and public interest pursuant to s 4 of the Defamation Act 2013. Master Dagnall directed the trial of the preliminary issues, which was heard by Steyn J in June 2024. The judge held that the article could not be defended as containing a fair and accurate report of the Excalibur case and entered judgment for Dr Hawrami upon the issue. She determined the natural and ordinary meanings of the website publication, as set out at [149] of her judgment, meanings which she decided were defamatory of Dr Hawrami at common law. There remains for determination in due course the Defendants’ public interest defence under s 4 of the 2013 Act. 5RB’s Adrienne Page KC and Tom Blackburn acted for Dr Hawrami, instructed by Carter-Ruck. A full case report will be released in due course. ◼ The judgment is included on the link below. bit.ly/3XjKGCm

5RB is delighted to announce that our two current pupils, Katya Pereira and Hector Penny, will commence practice as full tenants at the beginning of October, at the conclusion of their pupillages. We all at 5RB would like to send our congratulations to both of them! To learn more about Katya Pereira and Hector Penny, please click on the link below and select ‘𝗠𝗲𝗲𝘁 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗣𝘂𝗽𝗶𝗹𝘀.’ 🌐bit.ly/3Yfdugg #newtenants #5RBpupillage

The High Court has given judgment on preliminary issues in a libel claim brought by Andrew Bridgen against Matt Hancock concerning a Tweet published on 11/01/2023. Aidan Eardley KC acts for the Defendant, instructed by @RPCLaw. For the judgment visit: bit.ly/4ctHZDv

Preliminary issue judgment in The Lost King film case (Taylor v Pathe & Ors) handed down today. 5RB’s William Bennett KC & Victoria Jolliffe for C. Andrew Caldecott KC & Hope Williams for Ds.   5rb.com/news/preliminary-iss…

5RB is proud to be Advocate's Silver Pro Bono Patron 2024 and looks forward to continuing to support the important work of Advocate. @WeAreAdvocate #ProBonoPatron 5rb.com/news/5rb-recognised-…