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No Twitter allowed at Assange High Court bail hearing

By Press Gazette

High Court Mr Justice Ouseley ruled yesterday that journalists could not use the micro-blogging site Twitter to give a blow-by-blow account of the appeal hearing over the granting of bail for Wikileaks founder Julian Assange.

It underlined the fact that Twitter updates remain a grey area for judges as they were not envisaged in the 1981 Contempt of Court Act which bans photography and sound recordings from court. Pre-trial criminal hearings are in any case subject to strict reporting restrictions.

Swedish authorities want Assange extradited to face sex offence charges.

On Tuesday, when Assange appeared at City of Westminster Magistrates’ Court, district judge Howard Riddle decided to allow Tweeting, saying that journalists could send messages as long as they were discreet and did not interfere with the judicial process.

Assange was yesterday released after the High Court upheld a decision earlier in the week to grant bail for Assange.

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