Court Orders British Photographer to Pay Damages for Diana Dodi Photos

The controversy surrounding the death of Princess Diana and her lover Dodi al Fayed continues with a British photographer who took pictures of Princess Diana on a yacht ordered to pay damages to Dodi’s father, the Egyptian billionaire Mohamed al Fayed.

Jason Fraser from London in the United Kingdom was initially cleared of breaking privacy laws for the snap of Diana with Dodi Fayed.

But a court in France, Friday, overturned the verdict and ordered him to pay Fayed €5,000 and a fine of €3,000.

This is the latest development surrounding Dodi and Diana since April 2008 when the final verdict was passed on their mysterious deaths in a Paris tunnel, which left the French and British judiciaries wrestling with conspiracy theories.

After six months of testimony (which included listening to more than 240 witnesses and taking a trip to the Paris accident site), a coroner’s jury ruled in April 2008 that the August 31, 1997 accident that killed Princess Diana, boyfriend Dodi Fayed and their driver was caused by the driver’s recklessness (and high alcohol level) and harassment by the paparazzi following them.

The deaths were classified as manslaughter, but English courts have no jurisdiction to try the paparazzi over incidents that took place in another country — and while manslaughter charges had been filed in France against nine of the paparazzi, they were dropped in 2002.

The 11-person jury found no evidence to support the claim by Egyptian-born Mohamed Al-Fayed, owner of Harrods department store and Dodi’s father, that the August 31, 1997 accident was staged by Prince Phillip (Queen Elizabeth’s husband and Diana’s former father-in-law) and/or British intelligence agencies, because the British Royal Family did not want Diana marrying a Muslim and Princes William and Harry to have Muslim half-siblings.

Lord Justice Scott Baker, the coroner running the inquest, said after announcing the verdict that he hoped this will lay to rest any lingering doubts about Diana’s death.

Source African Press Agency

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