Former UK diplomat Craig Murray jailed for ‘contempt of court’

Former British diplomat, Craig Murray, has been sentenced to eight months imprisonment over his blog posts about the infamous Alex Salmond trial.

Murray, who was UK ambassador to Uzbekistan between 2002 and 2004, posted a series of articles online about the Scottish nationalist leader’s High Court trial in 2020.

Prosecutors subsequently raised concerns that female complainers could be identified via Murray’s blog posts, thereby breaching a court order.

In a passing sentence, the judge Lady Dorrian said Murray’s actions had struck “at the heart of the fair administration of justice” and created a “real risk” that complainers in similar cases would be reluctant to come forward in future cases.

The former diplomat-turned-dissident was initially given 48 hours to surrender to a police station, but following a challenge by his lawyer, Roddy Dunlop QC, this was extended to three weeks to enable Murray to appeal the sentence.

In his previous mitigation submission to the court, Dunlop QC presented Murray as a man of “impeccable character” and previously “untarnished reputation” and that jailing him would be “harsh to the point of being disproportionate”.

Dunlop QC pleaded with the judge to suspend Murray’s jail sentence and deal with the matter by way of a fine instead.

An ardent supporter of Scottish independence, Murray has been an irritant to the UK government for more than 15 years, notably by consistently criticizing British foreign policy, principally via his blog.

The harsh sentence imposed on him will inevitably lead to speculation that his trial and conviction were politically motivated.