European Court of Justice: Spanish Newspaper Allowed to Link Moroccan Royal Family to Drugs Trafficking
In 1995 the Spanish newspaper Diario 16 reported on the
discovery of almost 5000 kilos of hashish in the false bottom of a
lorry of the “Domaines Royaux” company, which belongs to the
Moroccan Royal Family. The headline read “A family company
belonging to Hassan II implicated in drug trafficking.” In Spain,
all courts up to the Constitutional Court ruled that this was an
illegal interference with the “droit fondamental au respect de
l’honneur” of the King of Morocco. The newspaper was sentenced
to pay compensation not only because of the headlines but also
because of the omission of certain details regarding pending legal
proceedings about the drugs case, which had led to the conviction
of three persons who had no relationship with the Royal Family.
This court order against the Spanish paper violates the freedom
of expression set out in Article 10 of the European Convention on
Human Rights,
the European Court of Human Rights recently
ruled in Gutiérrez Suarez against Spain (in French; an
unofficial English translation can be found
here). The public has the right to be
informed of drug trafficking in which the Moroccan Royal Family
appeared to be involved, also if at first sight this has no
effect on the exercise of the political functions of the
family.
The correctness of the facts was not disputed in the Spanish
proceedings. The media are free to choose in which way they report
about an incident. It was not the task of the Court of Justice, or
that of the domestic courts, to interfere with the editorial
freedom and to determine which journalistic techniques should be
used. The headlines do not alter this opinion, as they should be
read in conjunction with the body of the article.