Seier for Simon Singh — fortsatt støtte til "Libel Law Reform"

[Yngve.S]

Glimrende saker !
Så får en håpe at injurielovgivningen blir revidert som følge av dette

[Kristin C.]

Fryktelig passende er det jo at 1. det er nøyaktig to år siden Singh skrev "Beware the Spinal Trap" i The Guardian, og 2. denne uken er Chiropractic Awareness Week

Hurra!!

[Gnisten]

Jeg får vel legge inn en lenke jeg også. Den er rappet fra Asbjørn Dyrendals epost til Skepsis postliste:

http://www.badscience.net/2010/04/british-chiropractic-association-drops-shameful-libel-case-against-science-writer-who-criticised-them/

The BCA have dropped their case. It has not been good for them. It will now get worse. Singh has made it clear that he will pursue them for his costs: this will cost the BCA dearly, and it is money they can ill afford. I’m off to write about it for the Guardian but I thought you’d like to know, BBC and Times pieces below. People who sue people over criticisms of science are fools. The BCA statement, meanwhile, is typically vile. Especially the bit where they talk about being vindicated. Oh, and amusingly this is Chiropractic Awareness Week. Yes. Yes it is.

[Gnisten]

Jeg siterer innholdet i fersk epost fra samme kilde som shonny siterte:

Dear Friends
 
The British Chiropractic Association has dropped its libel case against Simon Singh. Read Simon’s, our and some of our supporters' reactions to the news here: www.senseaboutscience.org.uk/index.php/site/project/478 Keep an eye out for coverage about this today - there has already been lots, I'll include a few links below.
 
We are so pleased for Simon that the BCA has dropped the case but the campaign is far from over. Until we have a public interest defence that can protect discussion and comment about evidence and research, scientists, commentators, bloggers, forum users, authors and NGOs will continue to be bullied into silence, and cardiologist Dr Peter Wilmshurst is still fighting to defend his right to speak out about a medical device clinical trial.
 
With your support the Coalition for Libel Reform has secured manifesto commitments from all the major parties. But we need to continue to put pressure on politicians to make sure these promises are turned into meaningful reform once the new government is in place. We are organising a Free Speech General Election Hustings where you can come and question politicians on their commitment to libel reform for Wednesday 21st April in London. Check http://www.libelreform.org/ for more details about this soon.
 
The campaign reached 50,000 signatures of support last night. We really need to double this to keep the pressure up and make sure the politicians are aware of how serious the need for libel reform is. Please do all you can to help us reach our target by encouraging people to sign up at http://www.libelreform.org/
[...]
Times Online: Science writer Simon Singh wins bitter libel battle:
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/law/article7098157.ece

BBC News: Case dropped against Simon Singh:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8621880.stm

The Guardian: Simon Singh libel case dropped:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/apr/15/simon-singh-libel-case-dropped

For an updated list of coverage see:
www.senseaboutscience.org.uk/index.php/site/project/478

[Harald Hanche-Olsen]

Saken er omsider blogget.

[Hardy]

Oppdatering. Dette var en svært viktig, men samtidig foreløpig, seier for det frie ord. Det skriver kampanjen i en epost datert 12. juli. Det bes derfor om flere underskrifter, gjerne dobbelt så mange i løpet av de neste tre månedene.

On Friday, Justice Minister Lord McNally said the Government has listened to the 52,000 supporters of the Libel Reform Campaign and has made a “firm commitment to action” to protect freedom of speech and the public interest with a bill to be published in the New Year. The Bill will be the first attempt from a Government in more than a century to undertake fundamental reform of our libel laws.
It’s an incredible success for our campaign – and it’s thanks to your support.

But we don’t know how radical the Government’s bill will be, and we don’t know whether it will ensure that writers like Simon Singh, NGOs like Global Witness, or medical professionals like Dr Peter Wilmshurst won’t face libel actions in the future. That’s why we need your continued support.
Many of you have been emailing and Tweeting about this already – please do continue to spread the word. Over the next three months we need to double the signatories to our petition so new MPs know how important this issue is.

Her er det altså bare å se om det ikke er flere venner å utfordre.

Se også Libelreform.org.

[eirik]

http://morgenbladet.no/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100723/OAKTUELT/707239947

Morgenbladet om injurieturisme: Her attpåtil et søksmål fordi en lege var kritisk til et legemiddel i et foredrag han holdt på et universitet. Dette er vel nærmeste man kommer Big Pharma..
 

I to år harden danske professoren i radiologi, Henrik S. Thomsen, hatt et injuriesøksmål hengende over seg, og det for noe han hadde sagt i et auditorium i Oxford.

– Hensikten min var å dele noen erfaringer med kollegaer innen mitt fagfelt. Vi hadde behandlet 20 nyresvake for en sykdom vi mente hadde sammenheng med legemiddelet Omniscan, en kontrastvæske til bruk i MR-undersøkelser. Flere pasienter ble så forgiftet at de døde, sier Thomsen.

Det ble aldri gjort lydopptak av professor Thomsens 15 minutter lange innlegg. Foredraget ble heller aldri transkribert eller publisert. Men ett menneske i salen likte dårlig hva som ble fortalt, og denne personen var representant for produsenten av kontrastvæsken. Før professor Thomsens advokater hadde rukket å sette seg inn i alle dokumentene, var saken allerede i retten i London.

Injurieturisme. Fenomenet Thomsen ble utsatt for, kalles injurieturisme. Krenkede individer eller næringsinteresser velger seg land med fordelaktig injurielovgivning når de skal nedkjempe sine fiender, og for tiden befinner disse rettssalene seg i England og Wales.