The News of the World yesterday abandoned its legal attempt to prevent the publication of photos of its undercover reporter Mazher Mahmood.
The Respect MP George Galloway had successfully applied to overturn an injunction banning the publication of two photographs of the investigative reporter, who has come to be known as "the fake sheikh".
Yesterday the tabloid newspaper decided not to appeal against the decision, though it continued to insist that publication would endanger the reporter's life and that of his family.
Mr Justice Mitting dismissed that argument in his ruling, saying that for the photographs to be of any use to criminals with a grudge, "they would have to have a whole package of further information about his whereabouts and his habits".
The judge also expressed "surprise" that Richard Spearman QC, the News of the World barrister, used a series of arguments advanced by celebrities against tabloid newspapers in recent years, including model Naomi Campbell's privacy action against the Daily Mirror, in an effort to preserve Mahmood's anonymity.
At one point the judge said: "The partners of footballers are frequently photographed on shopping expeditions - you can't say that their privacy is being infringed." But Mr Spearman replied: "The answer is that it almost certainly is being infringed."
Mr Galloway launched his campaign to unmask Mahmood earlier this week after the journalist attempted to catch the MP for Bethnal Green and Bow in an illegal party funding sting.
After the newspaper's decision not to proceed with an appeal before yesterday's 4pm deadline, Mr Galloway restored the pictures to his Respect party website. Some internet sites, including Google and Wikipedia, had continued to show the image even while the injunction was in place, highlighting the difficulty of enforcing such injunctions retrospectively in the digital age. One photo shows the reporter, who claims to have secured more than 130 convictions, in his trademark "fake sheikh" outfit, and was supplied by a victim of one of Mahmood's stings. The other is a black and white passport photo that Mr Galloway claimed to have found on the internet.
A spokesman for the MP said: "They argued that he should be entitled to a private life - this from an organisation that is built on invading people's private lives."
