C.J. lifts injunction against Belize Times

A ruling in the Belize City Supreme Court late this afternoon by Chief Justice Abdulai Conteh has lifted an interim injunction against the Belize Times. Around three today, the C.J. set aside his earlier decision against the People’s United Party paper, which barred the Times from publishing anything further about Lois Young Barrow with regard to allegations of libel. Belize Times editor Andrew Steinhauer has sworn to supply the court with evidence of justification and fair comment to support reports published about the attorney during the substantive case of libel. Steinhauer is claiming that what was published was in “the public interest” and allowed under Freedom of Speech. Leader of the Opposition, Dean Barrow, appearing on behalf of Young opposed the application citing that the Times would not succeed at trial. In handing down his decision the C.J. noted:

“If at the end of the day the statement is found to be indeed libellous, the claimant would, in addition to being vindicated by the verdict, be entitled to damages … in the face of the applicant’s failure to give an undertaking not to repeat their publications of the claimant, and they were to do so or continue doing so, and at trail they were not to succeed, I need hardly underline the dire consequences that may follow”.

The request for an interim injunction against the Belize Times was granted on October seventeenth. Young Barrow has sued for libel, claiming the Belize Times printed defamatory statements about her in separate issues. The Times is being defended by Kareem Musa and former solicitor general Elson Kaseke while Dean Barrow represents Young Barrow.