Judge Rules Mail On Sunday Article Defamatory

The High Court judge agreed with this interpretation, writing that the story could lead readers to believe that Harry had purposefully tried to bamboozle the public about the truth of his legal proceedings against the government.

“It may be possible to ‘spin’ facts in a way that does not mislead, but the allegation being made in the article was very much that the object was to mislead the public,” the judge wrote. “That supplies the necessary element to make the meanings defamatory at common law.”

Nicklin also determined that the story’s description of how Harry and his lawyers had attempted to keep his effort to secure police protection from the Home Office confidential met the threshold for defamation.

The “natural and ordinary” meaning of the Mail on Sunday article, Nicklin wrote, was that Harry “had initially sought confidentiality restrictions that were far-reaching and unjustifiably wide and were rightly challenged by the Home Office on the grounds of transparency and open justice .”

The High Court justice wrote that “the message that comes across clearly, in the headlines and [specific] paragraphs” of the Mail on Sunday story met the common law requirements for defamation.

Throughout the judgment, Nicklin emphasized that his decision was “very much the first phase in a libel claim.”

“The next step will be for the defendant to file a defense to the claim. It will be a matter for determination later in the proceedings whether the claim succeeds or fails, and on what basis,” Nicklin wrote.

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ICE Detainees With High-Risk Medical Conditions Fought For Months To Be Released

Josmith used to dread nightfall inside his ICE detention cell because it meant he’d be struggling to breathe for hours.

The 25-year-old Haitian asylum-seeker was diagnosed with asthma in 2015 and was able to control it with medication — but after entering ICE’s Cibola County Correctional Center in Milan, New Mexico, Josmith’s condition worsened as he struggled to breathe throughout the day , and it was always harder when he tried to sleep. Fear of catching COVID in the detention center’s tight quarters didn’t help.

Josmith said he felt like he was “suffocating” and that he “could die here.”

ICE detainees like Josmith, who due to preexisting medical conditions are at greater risk of serious side effects from contracting COVID-19, can be released under a federal court injunction issued in 2020. Amid soaring COVID rates, a judge at the time ordered authorities to identify all ICE detainees who are at higher risk of severe illness and death and to strongly consider releasing them unless they posed a danger to property or people.

In an Oct. 7, 2020, court filing in the case, US District Judge Jesus Bernal said that “only in rare cases” would ICE fail to release at-risk immigrants who are not subject to mandatory detention.

Hundreds of immigrants have since been released. But as the pandemic progressed, attorneys and advocates said immigrants like Josmith fell through the cracks. In order to get some medically vulnerable people released, attorneys had to pressure ICE, but advocates said that’s not a

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Russia Banned From Eurovision 2022 For Ukraine Invasion

Organizers of the Eurovision Song Contest reversed course on Friday, announcing that Russia would no longer be permitted to perform in this year’s event.

“The decision reflects concern that, in light of the unprecedented crisis in Ukraine, the inclusion of a Russian entry in this year’s Contest would bring the competition into disrepute,” the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) said in a statement.

The decision to punish Russia culturally for invading Ukraine comes a day after the same group had said Moscow would be allowed to send an act to appear at the next Eurovision, scheduled to be held in Turin, Italy, in May.

Ukraine’s public broadcasting company had asked for Russia to be suspended from the popular contest, which is watched by almost 200 million people each year.

But the EBU, which has organized the contest since 1956, had maintained that Eurovision was “a non-political cultural event.”

In response, a number of other European countries had indicated they would not participate in this year’s event unless Russia was banned.

Russia was yet to formally announce an act for this year’s competition. Since the attack on Ukraine, thousands of Russians have braved the risk of being arrested to protest against their government’s deadly invasion.

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