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Charles won't get diaries back
02/04/2007 16:29 - (SA)
London - Prince Charles failed in a legal
bid on Tuesday to get back leaked copies of his diaries, one of
which, revealing indiscreet thoughts about the Chinese
leadership, has already been published.
He won back his Hong Kong journal after his comments from it
describing Chinese officials as "appalling old waxworks" were
published by the Mail on Sunday.
But at the High Court on Tuesday he failed to obtain an
immediate order that the paper should now hand back copies of
seven other diaries.
Last December, three Appeal Court judges said the prince had
an "overwhelming" human right to keep his holiday journals
private .
However, Mr Justice Blackburne was told that the paper is
awaiting the outcome of its petition to the House of Lords to
mount an appeal against the earlier rulings against it.
On Tuesday, refusing to grant summary judgment - judgment
without the need for a fully contested hearing - and order the
immediate return of the other journals, the judge adjourned the
case until May 21 to give the paper time to submit evidence and
argue its case.
Copies obtained via a leak from prince's private office
He also said that by then the House of Lords was likely to
have decided whether to hear an appeal.
In the meantime Associated Newspapers, publishers of the
Mail on Sunday, have undertaken not to publish details of the
other seven journals without telling the Prince's lawyers first.
The Hong Kong diary was written during Charles's visit for
the handover of the colony to the Chinese in 1997.
The Mail on Sunday had acquired copies of it via a leak from
the prince's private office and published extracts in November
2005, just days after an official visit to Britain by Chinese
President Hu Jintao.
- Reuters
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South Africa
