PICTURES: Emergency protest organised outside Inverness Justice Centre in support of Craig Murray who was imprisoned for eight months after being found guilty of contempt of court resulting from his coverage of the trial of former Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond
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Protestors gathered outside Inverness Justice Centre in Longman Road today to support an imprisoned man.
Craig Murray, a former UK diplomat-turned whistleblower, was sentenced to eight months in prison at the High Court in Edinburgh.
This was for contempt of court resulting from his coverage of the trial of former Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond.
In March a three-judge panel ruled that information published by Murray in a series of blog posts was likely to lead indirectly to people being able to identify witnesses in Salmond’s sexual assault trial.
It is known as jigsaw identification and is the possibility that a person may be able to identify a protected witness by piecing together information from various sources.
Murray confirmed that the emergency protest was taking place in Inverness on Twitter today and added: "Again my family and I are extremely grateful for this concern for justice and liberty, and for us."
Similar protests have been organised across Scotland today in cities including Aberdeen and Edinburgh.
Murray this week began the eight-month jail term after the Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal – sentence had been deferred for that purpose but has now begun.
A spokesman said: "Craig, who was one of the few journalists who reported the defence case on his blog, was charged with contempt of court and found guilty on the grounds that what he wrote would allow jigsaw identification of some of (Alex Salmond's) accusers.
"The mainstream media journalists attending the trial paid scant attention to the defence and it is widely accepted that their reporting did far more to identify the accusers."
