Man jailed for not sharing Facebook password
London, Sep 1 : A British man suspected in the murder of a school girl has been sent to jail for refusing to share his Facebook password with police investigating her death, the media reported.
Stephen Nicholson was jailed for refusing to share his Facebook password with police, which they claimed obstructed their investigation into the stabbing of 13-year-old Lucy McHugh on July 26 this year, the Independent reported, late on Friday.
The police hoped to read through his private messages to see if he had sent any messages to the girl before her murder.
Nicholson, who pleaded guilty to the charge under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA), argued that giving police access to his private Facebook messages could expose information relating to cannabis.
However, the judge described this excuse as "wholly inadequate", considering the severity of the case and ordered a 14 month jail term.
Under the RIPA, police investigating a crime has the power to compel people to disclose a password used to access a phone, computer or any service accessed through an electronic device.
Refusing to comply with RIPA, intended as an anti-terror measure, can result in a maximum sentence of two years imprisonment, or five years in cases involving national security or child indecency.
"The police are able to request disclosure if the reason is to prevent or detect crime, if it's in the interests of national security or the economic well-being of the UK," Saunders Law, a London-based law firm, stated on its website.
However, the criminals may be wiser to not disclose a password and plead guilty to the RIPA offence, rather than face significantly more severe charges brought on by whatever the password-protected data reveals, the firm pointed out.
Thus, "there could be a completely disproportionate result if someone is imprisoned for not providing a password but not the crime they are originally under investigation for, of which they might be innocent", the firm stated.
A decision on whether to charge Nicholson with further offences is expected on October 27, the report stated.
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US VP JD Vance says Lebanon not part of ceasefire, calls it ‘misunderstanding’
Budapest/Washington: US Vice President J D Vance has said that Lebanon was never included in the ceasefire understanding with Iran, describing the confusion as a “legitimate misunderstanding”.
Speaking to reporters before departing from Hungary, Vance said, “I think the Iranians thought that the ceasefire included Lebanon and it just didn’t. We never made that promise.”
He stressed that the United States had not included Lebanon in the scope of the ceasefire at any stage.
His remarks come amid continued Israeli strikes in Lebanon, where more than 200 people were reported killed, even as ceasefire talks between Iran and the US move forward.
Vance said Israel had “offered … to check themselves a little bit in Lebanon because they want to make sure that our negotiation is successful”.
He warned that if Iran allows the situation in Lebanon to affect the negotiations, it could derail the talks.
“If Iran wants to let this negotiation fall apart in a conflict where they were getting hammered over Lebanon, which has nothing to do with them and which the United States never once said was part of the ceasefire, that’s ultimately their choice,” he said.
