Judge Peter Openshaw had to halt questioning to ask for
clarification of some common terms.
"The trouble is I don't understand the language. I don't really
understand what a website is," Openshaw told Woolwich Crown Court
in London on Wednesday, according to Reuters. "I haven't quite
grasped the concepts."
Openshaw is presiding over the trial of three men under the
Terrorism Act. The charges include the incitement of others to
commit acts of terrorism and some of the evidence yet to be heard
is thought to be likely to be technical in nature.
Openshaw said that he hoped that computer experts slated to give
evidence in the future would bear in mind his limited
understanding. "Will you ask him to keep it simple?" he said.
"We’ve got to start from basics."
Younes Tsouli, 23, Waseem Mughal, 24, and Tariq al-Daour, 21,
deny charges under the Terrorism Act. Some of the charges accuse
the men of inciting terrorism through the internet.
The case will reportedly examine evidence of some violent
Islamist material posted on the internet.
Two of the men, Tsouli and Mughal, deny a charge of conspiracy
to murder. Al-Daour has denied charges of conspiring with others to
defraud banks, credit card and charge card companies.
Editor's note, 18/05/2007, 12:10 GMT: OUT-LAW
has received a statement from the Judicial Communications Office,
arguing that the judge's comments have been taken out of context.
Here is the statement in full:
A media report on a judge
reported as saying “I don’t really understand what a website is”
has been taken out of context.
News reports have appeared implying that Mr Justice Openshaw, in
the course of proceedings, did not understand the term
‘website’.
In fact the Judge is currently in the fifth week of presiding over
a trial which is largely based on computer generated evidence.
Evidence is being provided by expert witnesses that will inevitably
be of a specialist nature.
Trial judges always seek to ensure that everyone in court is able
to follow all of the proceedings. They will regularly ask questions
– not for their own benefit – but on behalf of all those following
a case, in the interests of justice.
In this specific case, immediately prior to the judge’s comment,
the prosecution counsel had referred to various internet forums
with postings of comments relevant to the case. Mr Justice Openshaw
was simply clarifying the evidence presented, in an easily
understandable form for all those in court.
Mr Justice Openshaw is entirely computer literate and indeed has
taken notes on his own computer in court for many years.
