Former UK ambassador Craig Murray hands himself in to police to begin jail term
- Craig Murray convicted over blogs and tweets about the sexual assault trial of Scotland’s former first minister
- Former diplomat’s supporters have likened his case to that of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange
Former British ambassador Craig Murray handed himself in to UK police to serve an eight-month prison term for contempt of court after his appeal was rejected.
Murray, formerly ambassador to Uzbekistan, was convicted in May over blogs and tweets about the sexual assault trial of Scotland’s former first minister Alex Salmond.
The 62-year-old on Sunday hugged his family members and supporters, who sang Auld Lang Syne outside a police station in Edinburgh as he arrived to begin his sentence.
In a statement released by supporters, he said that “I go to jail with a clean conscience”.
He was convicted after a judge ruled that, put together, his posts made it possible to identify four women who were witnesses at Salmond’s trial last year, breaking Scottish law. The UK Supreme Court refused to hear his appeal.
The blog posts and tweets had remained online despite Murray having been warned of the risk of the women being identified.