Rights were violated in 'McLibel' case

The European Court of Human Rights ruled yesterday that two vegetarian activists convicted of defaming fast-food giant McDonald's Corp, did not receive a fair trial in Britain.

The Strasbourg, France-based court said David Morris and Helen Steel should have received legal aid from the British government when they were tried for libelling McDonald's in what became widely known as the 'McLibel' case.

The two activists passed out flyers in 1984 that claimed McDonald's was selling unhealthy food, was to blame for starvation in the Third World and was destroying rainforests.

The European court threw out a British court's 1997 guilty verdict, also saying English law unfairly had put the burden of proof on the defendants to justify every word in the leaflets they distributed but didn't write. The court awarded Morris and Steel damages of 20,000 euro (Dh95,271) and 15,000 euro (Dh71,455), respectively.

The British government has three months to appeal the decision. McDonald's UK office had no immediate response to the ruling

In London, Morris and Steel said they hope that as a result of the European Court ruling, the British government may be forced to amend or scrap some of the existing UK laws.

"We hope that this will result in greater public scrutiny and criticism of powerful organisations whose practices have a detrimental effect on society and the environment," the pair said in a statement.

"The McLibel campaign has already proved that determined and widespread grass roots protest and defiance can undermine those who try to silence their critics, and also render oppressive laws unworkable," the statement said.

The much-publicised trial was the longest in English history, lasting 313 court days during which Morris and Steel were refused legal aid and represented themselves with help only from volunteer lawyers.

They told the European court their defence had been hampered by lack of money. The two Londoners had been unemployed or in low-wage jobs.