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Gugulethu Moyo, Executive Director of the MLDI (centre), with Peter Noorlander, Legal Director (left) and Gwyneth Henderson, Chair of the Trustees (right) at the launch.  |   Image: © Gwanwyn Mason

More than 200 guests attended the London launch of the MLDI in November. They included leading lawyers, media figures and representatives of human rights NGOs.

Date: Thursday 5th November, 2009
Venue: The Law Society, London, UK

Among the speakers was Sir Louis Blom-Cooper QC, a veteran defender of human rights and a founding member of Amnesty International. Welcoming the creation of the MLDI, with its remit to give legal support to journalists around the world facing the oppressive use of criminal and civil laws, he said such a body had long been needed. But the appearance of the MLDI was a case of "better late than never".

Another prominent lawyer, Geoffrey Robertson QC, who has argued many media freedom cases both in the English courts and at the European Court of Human Rights, said: "The use of bad laws to silence the media is prevalent in vast swathes of the world. The attack on media freedom is pervasive and global.

"I welcome the Media Legal Defence Initiative, which will help the media to fight these attacks. It fills an important gap."

The keynote speaker was Aryeh Neier, President of the Open Society Institute (OSI), which was largely instrumental in setting up the MLDI. Referring to other bodies which had backed its creation, he said: "Sigrid Rausing, the MacArthur Foundation and the OSI recognized the unmet need in this area and came together to create a new organisation that would focus its resources on defending media freedom in the courts."

From left to right: Xan Smiley of The Economist with emcee Robin Denselow; Bambang Harymurti addresses guests; Bambang Harymurti with Geoffrey Robertson QC; Stewart Chisholm of the Open Society Institute and Sejal Parmar of Article 19.  |   Image: © Gwanwyn Mason

The catalyst for this initiative was the case of an Indonesian newspaper publisher, Bambang Harymurti, who also spoke at the launch. Explaining the background to the case, Mr Harymurti said a prominent businessman had tried to silence his news magazine Tempo in 2004 by bringing criminal and civil defamation charges under antiquated libel laws biased in favour of plaintiffs.

"Tomy Winata, the plaintiff, wanted over $1 million in damages, and state prosecutors sought a two-year prison sentence for me. Truth was no defence under the criminal law.

"My first year's legal fees alone were equivalent to one month's salary for the reporters and editors. Some of them started to refer to the 'late' Tempo, as they predicted its demise."

After nearly three years of court proceedings, a landmark ruling by Indonesia's Supreme Court overturned the one-year prison term that had been given Mr Harymurti by the trial court and held that the case against Tempo should not have been pursued under the law of criminal defamation.

It was while providing financial support to Mr Harymurti for his defence that donors and media freedom defenders recognised the need for a dedicated organisation to take on such work. The result was the MLDI.