Tag Archives: Home Office

Cameroon journalist fighting deportation has hearing delayed until March

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Cameroon journalist Charles Atangana, who is fighting deportation from the UK, will have to wait until March to find out whether he can stay in the UK after a judicial review hearing was withdrawn following the submission of new documentation to the Home Office.

According to a release from the union today, Atangana is currently pursuing a fresh asylum claim which has been rejected by the Home Office already but given the right to appeal.

Atangana, who is a member of the National Union of Journalists, claims he was tortured and detained for his writing in his home country, which he fled in 2004.

The economics and current affairs reporter was due to be deported back to Cameroon in August last year but was granted a reprieve following an ongoing campaign by the NUJ.

His appeal will be heard at the First Tier Tribunal at Taylor House on 14 March.

Frontline Club: The media and anti-terrorism laws 7pm GMT

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Watch the Frontline’s event on the media and anti-terrorism legislation here, at 7pm tonight:

Here’s the run-down from the Frontline Club:

[also see Marc Vallée’s blog]

An ‘On The Media’ discussion in association with the BBC College of Journalism

How concerned should photographers and journalists be about anti-terrorism legislation that came into force earlier this year making people taking pictures of the police potentially subject to fines or even arrest? A mass picture-taking event outside Scotland Yard organised by the National Union of Journalists earlier this year reflected widespread concerns that section 76 of the Counter Terrorism Act would extend powers already being used to harass photographers.

Under the Act eliciting, publishing or communicating information on members of the armed forces, intelligence services and police officers ‘likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism’ is subject to a 10 year maximum sentence.

The Home Office has insisted that the Act does not target the press but the number of photographers and camera crews who claim they have been prevented from taking pictures has increased.

On the other side of the lens there is growing evidence that Forward Intelligence Teams (FIT) are not only collating information on protestors and campaigners but also photographers and journalists who report on demonstrations.

The emergence of video footage following the death of Ian Tomlinson during the G20 protests in April demonstrates how significant images can be.

Claims by Val Swain and Emily Apple that they were unlawfully arrested during the Kingsnorth Climate Camp has again put the spotlight on the issue of police surveillance at demonstrations. And also raises questions about the status of citizen journalists in the eyes of the police.

How much of a challenge to the freedom of the press photographers, freelances of citizen journalists – to bear witness during protests could Section 76 become?

Panel: Peter Clarke, former head of counter terrorism for Scotland Yard

Marc Vallée is a London based photojournalist who is currently working on a long-term project to document political protest and dissent in modern Britain

Turi Munthe, CEO of Demotix, a citizen-journalism website and freelance photo agency

Angus Walker, UK editor, ITV News

Moderator: Margaret Gilmore is a freelance writer and broadcaster and senior research fellow with the leading independent think tank, RUSI, where she specialises in homeland security, covering terrorism and Olympic security

Are the new police crime maps any use for UK journalists? Some doubts raised

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Yesterday saw the launch of police crime maps in the UK. The Guardian reported:

“Crime maps detailing the number of offences committed in every neighbourhood have been published online by all 43 police forces in England and Wales, the Home Office said today.

“The colour-coded maps show the levels of burglary, car crime, robbery and other offences, and include charts showing whether crime is rising or falling.”

The maps were announced in July 2008, and had already provoked some discussion amongst journalists. This J.co.uk Editors’ Blog post all the way back in January 2008 looked at some existing regional newspaper mapping projects, including an LA Times homicide map and a murder map from the Manchester Evening News.

So are the new UK police maps all that new or useful for journalists? The Croydon Advertiser’s news editor, Jo Wadsworth, had this to say. She told Journalism.co.uk that they have had the maps in London for some months now.

“To be honest, my opinion of them hasn’t changed that much,” she said.

“The types of crime they cover are fairly restrictive, so they don’t give a particularly accurate reflection of true crime statistics in any one area. For instance, they don’t include sexual assaults, which would certainly be one type of crime I personally would be very interested in learning what the rates are in my local area.

“In terms of influencing and aiding local reporting, the Advertiser has run stories based on them, but they haven’t been that different to the standard crime figures stories which are a staple of local reporting, except in allowing us to drill down further than ward level,” she said.

“And I find it’s best to be wary of these types of stories in any case. For one thing, the police are well known for hailing any rises in crime as testament to their success in persuading people to report crime. And in terms of the micro-levels the maps drill down to, rises and falls are going to be fairly meaningless in any case.”

But, she added, ‘it’s good that the police are embracing this kind of technology, and transparency’.

“And hopefully in time it will be expanded to include more crimes – and more details for individual crimes,” she said.

Add your own thoughts below…

The draft Terrorism Act 2000 guidance: what’s happening?

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Photojournalist Marc Vallée updates us on the implications of the terrorism laws, for photographers and journalists, over on our main site.

Today, the Home Office had intended to publish new operational guidance to the police on the use of stop and search powers under section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000 for those taking photographs in public places.

Here you can read the details of the draft guidance, with Marc’s comments:

Details of the draft guidance, as originally published on his own blog:

“There is no power under the Terrorism Act 2000 to prohibit people from taking photographs or digital images in an area where an authority under section 44 is in place.

“If officers reasonably suspect that photographs are being taken as part of hostile terrorist reconnaissance then they should act appropriately, by searching the person under Section 43 of the Terrorism Act or making an arrest. Cameras, film and memory cards may be seized as evidence but there is no power for images to be deleted or film to be destroyed by officers.”

MV: What if section 43 with its powers to seize ‘cameras, film and memory cards’ is misused in the same way that section 44 has been misused by the police? Just think of the chilling effect this will have on photography in a public place.

Then, to Clause 75 (amended in committee – 22.10.08) of the new Counter-Terrorism Bill 2008.

(1) A person commits an offence who:

(a) elicits or attempts to elicit information about an individual who is or has been:

(i) a member of Her Majesty’s forces
(ii) a member of any of the intelligence services, or
(iii) a constable

MV: A ‘Constable’ is the legal term for all police officers. Elicits or attempts to elicit information: ‘does that include taking a photograph and publishing it?

(b) publishes or communicates any such information.

MV: You can get 10 years for this one! And I almost forgot, every police force in Britain is going to be equipped with mobile fingerprint scanners which will allow the police to carry out identity checks on people on the street. I think I’m going to need to get myself a desk job!

BBC Editors Blog: BBC not influenced by Home Office counter-terrorism unit

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The BBC has responded to claims made in a Guardian article that its coverage of al-Qaeda had been influenced by a Home Office counter-terrorism unit.

“The programme was called ‘al-Qaeda’s Enemy Within’ and explored how the war of ideas within the Jihadi movement is becoming as important as the military frontline,” explains Nicola Meyrick, executive editor of radio current affairs.

“Was it the result of a ‘push’ from RICU? Absolutely not. The truth couldn’t be more different.”