Yesterday, the Chief Justice told The Belize Times ease up on Lois Young-Barrow, or else. Well tonight, The Times seems to be telling the court, "bring it on!" As we reported, the court order prohibits The Belize Times from making attacks of the sort, or similar to, those that have been made on Young-Barrow in the past three weeks. This evening The Belize Times issued a statement which says that the newspaper will continue to treat Young-Barrow as, quote "fair political game." Tomorrow, the attorney for The Times, Elson Kaseke will apply to the Court of Appeals to have the injunction set aside. This morning the Prime Minister spoke to the press very plainly about the injunction. He says, simply put, it muzzles freedom of the press.
Jules Vasquez,
With the ruling of the Supreme Court will The Belize Times relent on its attacks on Lois Young?
Rt. Hon. Said Musa,
We will of course have to comply with whatever decisions are made by the courts. I must tell you I find that decision highly unusual - and very strange, in fact."
Adele Ramos, amandala Newspaper,
What makes it so?
Rt. Hon. Said Musa,
"It has far reaching implications for you people, in fact. It's a muzzle on the freedom of the press it's a very serious decision when you consider its implications. And of course we'll have to study it carefully. It is unprecedented because from my limited understanding of the law, you do not give an injunction in situations like this where a.) a public figure is involved - and no one can tell me that under the law a public figure has to be a politician - and b.) you do not give an injunction -preliminarily in a situation where the defense is saying that the defence is one of justification; in other words, "We'll prove that truth of what we publish. All the authorities that I have seen in my law practice, clearly point out that whenever the allegation or the defense is justification, there's no way you can get an injunction."
Shortly after the Prime Minister spoke, the Chief Justice issued a 6 page written judgement explaining his controversial decision and the, "delicate and unusual nature of the application." The Chief Justice notes legal learning which declares that injunctions to restrain publication of defamatory statements should "only be exercised in the clearest cases."
He goes on to say that he considers freedom of speech a cherished value that must be upheld at all times. But, of equal importance says the CJ, is the reputation of, "peaceful, law abiding citizens." As for The Belize Times defense, which the Prime Minister discussed, the CJ notes that attorney for the times Kareem Musa did not present any affidavit evidence of this and did not ask for time to present it. And in closing, the Chief Justice differs sharply with the Prime Minister when he makes the point that Lois Young-Barrow is not a public figure and, "she should not suffer any more hurt to her reputation...until the final resolution...." he says he is satisfied that the words she complains about are_ "capable of being defamatory."
Well as for hurt, the statement from The Times says that the PUP Party and government has been the one getting most of that, dished out relentlessly by Young-Barrow. The statement says, "Young-Barrow has sustained attacks on government for the past two years on radio, television and in public." The release continues, "as long as Young-Barrow continues to attack the government...the newspaper will treat her as fair political game." _We'll have to wait and sea what that means for tomorrow's paper.
