A leading London media lawyer is to advise on Saddam Hussein’s prospects of success in a high court human rights claim over photographs of him in his underpants which appeared on the front page of the Sun.
David Price has been approached by Saddam’s family about a possible claim against the paper in the high court over the publication last month of intrusive photographs of the former Iraqi dictator in jail.
Price declined to comment on Tuesday, but other lawyers said Saddam would have a good chance of winning a claim for misuse of private information, a new form of action which has developed as a result of the Human Rights Act. However, the damages are likely to be small.
Hugh Tomlinson QC of Matrix chambers said: ”It seems to me that he’s got a cast-iron case. What’s the defence — public interest? Is there a public interest in showing Saddam in his underpants?”
Jennifer McDermott, a media partner at the law firm Addleshaw Goddard, said: ”The Sun‘s public interest defence was that they were showing that he was fit and healthy and wasn’t being treated the way a mass murderer should. However, he has the same human rights as any other person.”
Mark Stephens, a media solicitor at Finer Stephens Innocent, also predicted that Saddam would win his case if he went ahead, although he said the damages would probably be ”tiny”.
The Sun‘s front page showed Saddam wearing a pair of white Y-fronts. Other pictures portrayed him washing his trousers, shuffling around and sleeping.
The Sun, which described the pictures as ”an extraordinary iconic news image”, quoted US military sources, who said they handed over the pictures in the hope of dealing a blow to the resistance in Iraq.
Saddam’s Iraqi lawyers threatened to sue the Sun for $1-million last month after the photograph appeared on the front page. But Tomlinson thought any compensation would be ”no more than a few thousand pounds”.
Stephens said it would be hundreds rather than thousands of pounds, unless the judges ”pick up on their threat” to link damages for invasion of privacy to extra profits from increased sales. ”They’re obviously looking for a case to have a go at it but this might not be it.”
The case has come to Price after a larger law firm noted for media work, which asked not to be named, turned it down. A spokesperson for the firm said it was concerned about ”the exposure of staff and buildings to the risk of action by terrorist and pressure groups”.
Stephens said he would have been willing to represent Saddam but for the fact that his firm acts only for newspapers defending libel and privacy claims, and not for claimants. Although Price often represents claimants on a no-win, no-fee basis, Saddam’s case, if it goes ahead, would not be financed that way.
Price acted for Alin Turcu, who had returned to Romania and did not appear in court, in a failed libel action against the News of the World over allegations that he was involved in a plot to kidnap Victoria Beckham. – Guardian Unlimited Â