Britain's Prince Harry in court over phone-hacking case

By Mehmet Solmaz

BIRMINGHAM, England (AA) — Britain’s Prince Harry — the Duke of Sussex, who has stepped down from his royal duties and left the UK with his wife Meghan Markle — was in court on Tuesday in London.

He was part of a group providing evidence in a lawsuit against The Daily Mirror, part of the tabloid group in Britain being accused of unlawful actions such as phone hacking.

Prince Harry is the first royal of the modern era to give evidence and be cross-examined in a British court. The prince, and three other claimants believe journalists from the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and The People exploited a security gap to access their voicemails and messages from friends and family.

Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN) has previously admitted to phone hacking, but not in the case of Prince Harry.

The prince denied MGN’s claims that he was not a victim of the illegal phone hacking by the media group as he was questioned for long hours in the court.

Towards the end of his witness statement, Prince Harry commented on the state of the media in the UK and said: "To save journalism as a profession, journalists need to expose those people in the media that have stolen or highjacked the privileges and powers of the press, and have used illegal or unlawful means for their own gain and agendas. Our country is judged globally by the state of our press and our government – both of which I believe are at rock bottom.”

"The country and the British public deserve to know the depths of what was actually happening then, and indeed now. We will be better off for it," he said, emphasizing that there’s a responsibility towards the public to expose “this criminal activity.”

In a separate but similar trial, Prince Harry attended a hearing in March, where he sued the publisher of the Daily Mail newspaper for wiretapping and privacy breaches.

Harry and six other renowned names, including Sir Elton John and Baroness Doreen Lawrence, have brought a lawsuit against the Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL) for misuse of private information. The action claims the individuals have been "victims of abhorrent criminal activity."

The media giant is accused of commissioning individuals to “surreptitiously listen into and record people’s live, private telephone calls” and the impersonation of individuals to obtain medical information from hospitals and clinics.

Hamlins law firm, which launched the legal action on behalf of the claimants, alleged the unlawful acts included hiring private investigators to secretly place listening devices inside cars and homes and the recording of private phone conversations.

The publisher responded to the allegations, describing them as “preposterous smears” and a “pre-planned and orchestrated attempt to drag the Mail titles into the phone-hacking scandal.”