[2025] EWHC 2114 (KB)

At the start of the hearing, I was conscious that the claimant was at a disadvantage not only because he is a litigant in person, but also because he was having to present his case in relation to the applications considered at the hearing over a video-link from the prison where he is currently serving his life sentence for murder and having to do so in a language in which he is not a native speaker. I therefore invited him to send to me after the hearing the speaking note that he was using when making his oral submissions during the hearing, if he wished to do so.

On 30 May 2025, Osborne Clarke forwarded a copy of the claimant’s speaking note, headed “Hearing Statement” and dated 23 May 2025, comprised of 30 handwritten pages, together with a further 17 pages of attachments, including a psychiatric report on the claimant dated 13 February 2007 prepared by a consultant psychiatrist at King’s College Hospital named Dr George Stein and a letter dated 20 May 2025 to the claimant from his Prison Offender Manager. The claimant also attached to his Hearing Statement a two-page statement dated 3 January 2025 signed by two persons named Hawkar Hassan and Arkan Ali, who identify themselves as Iraqi Kurds and friends of the claimant, which describes the impact of the programmes on the claimant and other members of his family and comments on how Kurdish viewers would have reacted to the Documentary and the Drama. The claimant also attached a newspaper review of the Drama that, according to a handwritten marking on it, appeared on 29 September 2020, and he attached a one page excerpt from a document that appeared to concern a false allegation allegedly made by Mohammed Hama against the claimant on 19 December 2005. In addition, Osborne Clarke forwarded two emails, sent on behalf of the claimant, from two individuals named Adam Omar and Mahmet Murat, each identifying himself as a family friend, providing evidence of the impact of the programmes on the claimant’s family and also commenting on how Kurdish viewers would have reacted to each of the Documentary and the Drama.

On 9 June 2025, Osborne Clarke wrote to the court to outline the defendant’s position in relation to the documents that were provided to the court by the claimant after the hearing. The defendant expressed the view that the claimant had not limited himself to his speaking note at the hearing and had filed additional evidence in support of his position and had raised new points in response to submissions made by the defendant at the hearing. The defendant confirmed that it was neutral on whether this new evidence was formally admitted but submitted that the delay in forwarding this evidence meant that it should be afforded little, if any weight, by the court.

On 11 June 2025, Osborne Clarke forwarded a further message to the court from the claimant, responding to Osborne Clarke’s message of 9 June 2025, in which, in essence, the claimant submitted that the emails from Mr Omar and Mr Murat in support of his case did not constitute new evidence, because they were made some time ago and supported his reasons for his delay in bringing the claim. The claimant also noted that some of the additional evidence that he had filed with the court (concerning his medical condition, his mental health, and how a typical member of the Kurdish community would have reacted to the Documentary and the Drama) were intended to demonstrate the serious impact that the allegations made in the Documentary and the Drama had had on the claimant and his family.

I have read all of the material that has been provided by the claimant following the hearing de bene esse. To the extent that it adds evidence on any relevant matter that was not before me at the hearing, it would not be fair to admit it. Much of it, however, merely repeats or adds little of substance to what was already before me. I have carefully reviewed the claimant’s hearing statement and taken all of his submissions into account to the extent that it is fair to do so in relation to the issues that were addressed at the hearing before me.