British Libel Law Examined After Controversial Gag Order Against The Guardian

British lawmakers are speaking out against “super-injunctions” after The Guardian newspaper was unable to report on a Parliamentary proceeding related to a toxic waste dumping scandal.

In September, British newspaper The Guardian obtained evidence that international oil trader Trafigura had known about the dangers of toxic waste that was dumped in the Ivory Coast, which made an estimated 30,000 people ill. On Sept. 11, Trafigura and its legal firm, Carter-Ruck, obtained an injunction against The Guardian that prevented the paper from reporting the story.

On Monday, British MP Paul Farrelly submitted a question to Parliament about the injunction. Though the right to report on Parliament is guaranteed under the 1688 Bill of Rights, and though the question appeared on the Parliament Web site, Carter-Ruck used the injunction to prevent The Guardian from reporting the question.

The Guardian ran articles on Monday and Tuesday saying that it could not report on a story. “The Guardian is prevented from identifying the MP who has asked the question, what the question is, which minister might answer it, or where the question is to be found,” wrote David Leigh.

Editor Alan Rusbridger made a post on Twitter alluding to the injunction. (...)