Jersey blogger Stuart Syvret jailed for three months

This story appeared on the Guardian website yesterday evening, though it did not make this morning's printed edition:

Jersey's former health minister has been sentenced to three months in prison after refusing to take down articles on his blog making serious allegations against a number of people on the island. 

Stuart Syvret, described by one judge as "a thorn in the side of the [Jersey] establishment", did not attend the court hearing in the royal court in St Helier on Monday but was arrested at his home after locking himself in his flat. 

According to John Hemming, a Liberal Democrat MP, Syvret has been unfairly prosecuted for revealing information in the public interest, including evidence that a nurse on the island may have killed some of his patients. 

Hemming accuses the Jersey judiciary of behaving oppressively by misusing the Data Protection Act in order to silence its critics.

John Hemming gave more information on the prosecution (or persecution) of Stuart Syvret in the Commons in November 2009. Those remarks, of course, enjoyed parliamentary privilege.

Later. Listen an interview Stuart Syvret gave three weeks ago.