Two Celebrity Cases Put a Spotlight on British Courts’ Gag Orders

Two recent cases have brought new attention to the ways that British laws can allow the wealthy and powerful to silence their critics. The first was the rape and sexual assault trial of the comedian Russell Brand. Before his conviction last week, Mr. Brand had obtained an injunction prohibiting another accuser from telling almost anyone — including the police, her family and most doctors — about her claims that he assaulted her. (Mr. Brand has denied her allegations.)

That injunction, first revealed by Dan Neidle, a tax lawyer and free-expression activist, apparently remains in force. In the second instance, two British news organizations were temporarily blocked from reporting allegations of sexual misconduct against David Walliams, a television personality and author of children’s books, before a judge declined to make the injunction permanent. The Guardian newspaper and ITV News, a British broadcaster, published investigations last week into the allegations, which Mr. Walliams denies.

Though both men now face public scrutiny, the revelations of how they used court injunctions — essentially gag orders — to protect their reputations have provoked no shortage of public and political outrage. Judges in other cases have issued “super injunctions,” which prohibit publishing any information even about the injunction itself. “What will the government do to prevent these abuses of process, and stop the abusive injunctions and super injunctions which stop scrutiny, accountability and the work of the free press?”

Nick Timothy, the shadow justice minister, asked in Parliament on Tuesday. The British government is now “looking at what we can do,” Alex Davies-Jones, the government minister responsible for victims of crime and violence against women and girls, said in response. We are having trouble retrieving the article content. Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.

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