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Public Interest Defence
A public interest defence is a defence in law that allows a defendant who disclosed classified or protected information to avoid criminal or civil liability by establishing that the public interest in disclosure of the information outweighs the public interest in nondisclosure. In the context of secrecy laws, it may permit a whistleblower to disclose government misconduct. In the context of journalism, publication of a story that the journalist reasonably believes to be true "having regard for all the circumstances", even if subsequently found to be untrue, is protected against action for defamation in UK law. In the United Kingdom, the Defamation Act 2013 provides a public interest defence. Official secrets The inclusion of the defence was a subject of debate in the legislative process of the Official Secrets Act 1989 of the United Kingdom. The defence was not included in the final Act. The defence was also absent in secrecy laws in other countries that were based on the Ac ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Defense (legal)
In a civil proceeding or criminal prosecution under the common law or under statute, a defendant may raise a defense (or defence) in an effort to avert civil legal liability, liability or criminal conviction. A defense is put forward by a party to defeat a suit or action brought against the party, and may be based on legal grounds or on factual claims. Besides contesting the accuracy of an allegation made against the defendant in the proceeding, the defendant may also make allegations against the prosecutor or plaintiff or raise a defense, arguing that, even if the allegations against the defendant are true, the defendant is nevertheless not liable. Acceptance of a defense by the court completely exonerates the defendant and not merely Mitigation, mitigates the liability. The defense phase of a trial occurs after the prosecution phase, that is, after the prosecution "rests". Other parts of the defense include the opening and closing arguments and the cross-examination during ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hong Kong
Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the world. Hong Kong was established as a colony of the British Empire after the Qing dynasty ceded Hong Kong Island in 1841–1842 as a consequence of losing the First Opium War. The colony expanded to the Kowloon Peninsula in 1860 and was further extended when the United Kingdom obtained a 99-year lease of the New Territories in 1898. Hong Kong was occupied by Japan from 1941 to 1945 during World War II. The territory was handed over from the United Kingdom to China in 1997. Hong Kong maintains separate governing and economic systems from that of mainland China under the principle of one country, two systems. Originally a sparsely populated area of farming and fishing villages,. the territory is now one of the world's most signific ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Canadian Criminal Law
The criminal law of Canada is under the exclusive legislative jurisdiction of the Parliament of Canada. The power to enact criminal law is derived from section 91(27) of the ''Constitution Act, 1867''. Most criminal laws have been codified in the ''Criminal Code'', as well as the '' Controlled Drugs and Substances Act'', '' Youth Criminal Justice Act'' and several other peripheral statutes. Prosecution A person may be prosecuted criminally for any offences found in the ''Criminal Code'' or any other federal statute containing criminal offences. In all Canadian provinces and territories, criminal prosecutions are brought in the name of the " King in Right of Canada", because the King of Canada is the country's head of state. There are two basic types of offences. The most minor offences are summary conviction offences. They are defined as "summary" within the Act and, unless otherwise stated, are punishable by a fine of no more than $5,000 and/or six months in jail. Examples ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Criminal Defenses
In the field of criminal law, there are a variety of conditions that will tend to negate elements of a crime (particularly the ''intent'' element), known as defenses. The label may be apt in jurisdictions where the ''accused'' may be assigned some ''burden'' before a tribunal. However, in many jurisdictions, the entire burden to prove a crime is on the ''prosecution'', which also must prove the ''absence'' of these defenses, where implicated. In other words, in many jurisdictions the absence of these so-called defenses is treated as an element of the crime. So-called defenses may provide partial or total refuge from punishment. Types of defenses in a court of law Mental disorder (insanity) Insanity or ''mental disorder'' (Australia and Canada), may negate the ''intent'' of any crime, although it pertains only to those crimes having an ''intent'' element. A variety of rules have been advanced to define what, precisely, constitutes criminal ''insanity''. The most common definiti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carole Cadwalladr
Carole Jane Cadwalladr (; born 1969) is a British author, investigative journalist, and features writer. She was a features writer for ''The Observer'' and formerly worked at ''The Daily Telegraph''. Cadwalladr rose to international prominence in 2018 for her role in exposing the Facebook–Cambridge Analytica data scandal, for which she was a finalist for the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting, alongside reporters from ''The New York Times''. Early life Cadwalladr was born in Taunton, Somerset, England and raised in South Wales. She was educated at Radyr Comprehensive School in Cardiff and at Hertford College, Oxford. Career During the 1990s, Cadwalladr wrote travel guidebooks. She was also a travel writer for The Daily Telegraph. Cadwalladr's debut novel, ''The Family Tree'', was shortlisted for several awards: the 2006 Commonwealth Writers' Prize, the Authors' Club Best First Novel Award, the Waverton Good Read Award, and the Wales Book of the Year. The novel w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Clive Ponting
Clive Sheridan Ponting (13 April 1946 – 28 July 2020)Richard Norton-Taylor, "The Ponting Affair", Cecil Woolf, London, 1985, p. 14. was a senior British civil servant and historian. In 1984, he leaked classified documents about the sinking of the ARA ''General Belgrano'' in the Falklands War in 1982, which showed that government statements about the sinking were untrue. He was prosecuted under the Official Secrets Act, but argued that his actions were in the public interest, and was acquitted. At the time of his resignation from the civil service in 1985, he was a Grade 5 (assistant secretary), earning £23,000 per year (£70,214 in 2020). He later wrote a number of books on British and world history. These included a ''Green History of the World'' (1991), which was revised as ''A New Green History of the World'' in 2007, and a biography of Winston Churchill (1994) and '' 1940: Myth and Reality'' (1990). Early life Ponting was born in Bristol, the only child of Charles P ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lawfare
Lawfare is the use of legal systems and institutions to affect foreign or domestic affairs, as a more peaceful and rational alternative, or as a less benign adjunct, to warfare. Detractors have alternately begun to define the phrase as, "An attempt to damage or delegitimize an opponent, or to deter an individual's usage of their legal rights". The term may refer to the use of legal systems and principles against an enemy, such as by damaging or delegitimizing them, wasting their time and money (e.g., strategic lawsuits against public participation), or winning a public relations victory. Alternatively, it may describe a tactic used by repressive regimes to label and discourage civil society or individuals from claiming their legal rights via national or international legal systems. This is especially common in situations when individuals and civil society use nonviolent methods to highlight or oppose discrimination, persecution, corruption, lack of democracy, limiting freedom ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edward Snowden
Edward Joseph Snowden (born June 21, 1983) is a former National Security Agency (NSA) intelligence contractor and whistleblower who leaked classified documents revealing the existence of global surveillance programs. Born in 1983 in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, he attended a community college and later enrolled at a masters programme of the University of Liverpool without finishing it. In 2005 he worked for the University of Maryland, in 2006 he started working for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and then switched to Dell in 2009 where he was managing computer systems of the NSA. In 2013, he worked two months at Booz Allen Hamilton with the purpose of gathering more NSA documents. In May 2013, Snowden flew to Hong Kong and in early June he revealed thousands of classified NSA documents to journalists Glenn Greenwald, Laura Poitras, Barton Gellman, and Ewen MacAskill. Global surveillance disclosures (2013–present), His disclosures revealed numerous global surveillance ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Media In Hong Kong
Hong Kong's media consists of several different types of communications of mass media: television, radio, cinema, newspapers, magazines, websites and other online platforms. Overview Hong Kong is home to many of Asia's biggest media entities and remains one of the world's largest film industries. The loose regulation over the establishment of a newspaper makes Hong Kong home to many international media such as the '' Asian Wall Street Journal'' and ''Far Eastern Economic Review'', and publications with anti-Communist backgrounds such as '' The Epoch Times'' (which is funded by Falun Gong). It also once had numerous newspapers funded by Kuomintang of Taiwan but all of them were terminated due to poor financial performance. The Catholic Diocese of Hong Kong publishes '' Kung Kao Po'', a weekly newspaper. Until the increased repression of freedom of expression in Hong Kong following the passing of the national security law in 2020, ''Apple Daily'' being the most read newspap ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hong Kong Basic Law Article 23
Article 23 is an article of the Hong Kong Basic Law. It states that Hong Kong "shall enact laws on its own to prohibit any act of treason, secession, sedition, subversion against the Central People's Government, or theft of state secrets, to prohibit foreign political organizations or bodies from conducting political activities in the Region, and to prohibit political organizations or bodies of the Region from establishing ties with foreign political organizations or bodies." The first attempt to implement the article was foiled by a massive street protest on 1 July 2003, when a half-million people marched through downtown Hong Kong. The law was pulled from consideration after division in the pro-Beijing camp and lost the majority of support in the legislature. China's National People's Congress imposed a national security law with similar language (though without the treason component) on Hong Kong on 30 June 2020, citing its authority under Article 18 of the Basic Law. A se ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Security Of Information Act
The ''Security of Information Act'' (, R.S.C. 1985, c. O-5), formerly known as the ''Official Secrets Act'', is an Act of the Parliament of Canada that addresses national security concerns, including threats of espionage by foreign powers and List of designated terrorist organizations, terrorist organizations, and the intimidation or coercion of ethnocultural communities in and against Canada. Key provisions of the Act Certain departments ('Scheduled department') and classes of people (past and current employees) are 'permanently bound to secrecy' under the Act. These are individuals who should be held to a higher level of accountability for unauthorized disclosures of information obtained in relation to their work. For example, Military Intelligence, employees of Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), Communications Security Establishment Canada, Communications Security Establishment and certain members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). This act applies t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Defendant
In court proceedings, a defendant is a person or object who is the party either accused of committing a crime in criminal prosecution or against whom some type of civil relief is being sought in a civil case. Terminology varies from one jurisdiction to another. In Scots law, the terms "accused" or "panel" are used instead in criminal proceedings and "defender" in civil proceedings. Another term in use is "respondent". Criminal defendants In a criminal trial, a defendant is a person accused ( charged) of committing an offense (a crime; an act defined as punishable under criminal law). The other party to a criminal trial is usually a public prosecutor, but in some jurisdictions, private prosecutions are allowed. Criminal defendants are often taken into custody by police and brought before a court under an arrest warrant. Criminal defendants are usually obliged to post bail before being released from custody. For serious cases, such as murder, bail may be refused. Defendants ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
