Search in the United Kingdom, national level
The number of entries reflects the depth of this record, not the severity of a country's conduct.
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United Kingdom detains journalist's partner under terrorism law and oversees destruction of Guardian hard drives holding Snowden files
British authorities detained David Miranda, partner of Guardian journalist Glenn Greenwald, for nine hours at Heathrow Airport under anti-terrorism powers, and separately had Guardian staff destroy hard drives holding files leaked by Edwar…
Surveillance and subpoenas · Stage Punish · Head of government David Cameron · Upheld by a court
United Kingdom bars broadcasters from airing Sinn Féin members' own voices
Home Secretary Douglas Hurd directed British broadcasters in October 1988 not to air the voices of representatives of Sinn Féin, a party linked to the Irish Republican Army, and other groups linked to violence in Northern Ireland. Broadcas…
Licensing and closure of outlets · Stage Silence · Head of government Margaret Thatcher · Reversed
United Kingdom court bars The Sunday Times from publishing an article on thalidomide
On November 17, 1972, the Divisional Court of the Queen's Bench Division, part of England's High Court, granted the Attorney General's request for an injunction stopping The Sunday Times from publishing an article about the drug thalidomid…
Prior restraint · Stage Silence · Head of government Edward Heath · Reversed
United Kingdom: Government requisitions newsprint and restricts rival newspapers during the 1926 General Strike
During the general strike called by the Trades Union Congress in May 1926, the British government requisitioned the country's available newsprint for its own newspaper, the British Gazette, and placed a provisional embargo on paper supplie…
Funding and ownership pressure · Stage Pressure · Head of government Stanley Baldwin · Ongoing
Britain's Official Press Bureau controls newspaper coverage of the First World War
Weeks after Britain entered the First World War, Prime Minister Herbert Asquith told the House of Commons that the Official Press Bureau was the sole channel through which the Admiralty, the War Office and other departments released naval…
Prior restraint · Stage Silence · Head of government Herbert Henry Asquith · Sustained