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Khuja v Times Newspapers Ltd

[2017] UKSC 49 Supreme Court, 2017

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What the court held

The Supreme Court refused an anonymity order to a man arrested but never charged in relation to a child-abuse investigation. Held that the press has a strong right to report public court proceedings and identify individuals discussed in them, absent specific fair-trial risk.

Key rulings

  • A person arrested but not charged can still be named where information was aired in open court about him.
  • Article 8 privacy interests must be weighed against Article 10 open-justice interests.
  • The court declined a general rule against pre-charge identification (later distinguished by ZXC v Bloomberg).

Topics

Open justiceSuspects’ privacyAnonymity

Acts cited

  • Human Rights Act 1998

Authoritative source

Read the full judgment on BAILII (British and Irish Legal Information Institute):

https://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKSC/2017/49.html

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Case summaries are drafted by UK JournoHub Editorial for practising UK journalists. They are not legal advice. Always consult primary sources and, for high-risk stories, take specialist legal advice.