English PEN and our partners on the Privacy not Prism campaign, Big Brother Watch, Open Rights Group, and Constanze Kurz, are delighted to announce that we have now secured a full hearing at the European Court of Human Rights.
This is huge news as very few cases are ever heard by the Court. The vast majority of cases (even successful ones) are decided on the basis of written submissions only. In view of the importance of the issues in this case, it seems that the court has exceptionally decided to hold a hearing. It just goes to show that privacy remains a critical issue, not just for everyday citizens but in the courts as well.
However, we need your help to get there.
After much back and forth over the past four years with the UK Government about the case, the court have told us that they want to hear from us and other privacy groups who have launched similar cases against the intrusive UK surveillance regime known as RIPA.
On 7 November, Big Brother Watch, Open Rights Group and English PEN along with 10 other NGOs from the UK, the US and Germany will have the chance to put to the court our concerns.
We are extremely grateful for the generosity of all those who have already donated to the campaign – we couldn’t have got this far without you. We are still fundraising for our final costs. Every penny will help us and our legal team who have worked tirelessly on behalf of all UK citizens, against the intrusive surveillance regime of the UK Government.