Justice Minister Naomi Long ‘not ruling out’ appeal against High Court anonymity ruling

Justice Minister Naomi Long said she has not ruled out an appeal against a High Court ruling on a challenge to sexual offence anonymity laws.

The Sexual Offences and Trafficking Victims Act came into force in Northern Ireland last year.

It excludes the public from Crown Court rape cases and also provides anonymity for suspects in sexual offence cases up to the point of charge.

Those not subsequently charged will have anonymity for their lifetime and for 25 years after their death.

Media organisations launched a legal challenge against sections 12 to 16 of the Act, in concern at the impact on the reporting of sexual offence allegations.

An example given was that the legislation would have prevented media from being able to report the allegations against the disgraced entertainer Jimmy Savile.

Last week, Mr Justice Humphreys said it was beyond Stormont’s legislative competence to introduce the Act which has the “chilling effect” on public interest journalism.

He found it was not compatible with human rights law on press freedom and therefore unlawful.

Stormont Opposition leader Matthew O’Toole put an urgent oral question to Ms Long in the Assembly on Monday about what actions she plans to take following the ruling.

Responding, Ms Long said it was a complex judgment and she wants to take time to study the detail with her department’s legal team.

“The judgment found in favour of the applicants in respect of the challenge that the provision was incompatible with article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which is the right to freedom of expression, and declared it unlawful,” she told MLAs.

“This was on the basis that the provision criminalised publication of a suspect’s details without recognising any public interest defence and failed to provide for a process by which media organisations may apply to the court during a suspect’s lifetime to have the prohibition on publication modified or revoked on public interest grounds.

“The other grounds of challenge, which related to the retrospective effect of the provision and an alleged lack of procedural fairness, were not upheld.

“I will now wish to study the detail of the judgment in conjunction with my department’s legal team before making any decisions on a way forward.”

She was pressed further by Mr O’Toole, who said it was “terrible law”, and any attempt to appeal against the judgment would be “doubling down on bad law and be a waste of public money”.

Ms Long responded: “As I have already said, this is a complex and detailed legal judgment, and it does not just have implications for this particular piece of legislation, but potentially also for this House.

“Appeal is therefore always an option.

“However, I will want to carefully consider all my available options and in conjunction with the department’s legal team before arriving at a decision to the best way forward.

“The judgment goes beyond the reach of solely my department … it has a wider bearing on future functions of the Assembly.

“All involved will want to carefully consider whether there is the potential for unintended consequences.”

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