A prisoner has lost his challenge to prison rules which refused to allow him wear the Easter lily outside his cell. The ECtHR found his claim under Articles 10 (freedom of expression) 14 (equal treatment) and 6 (fair hearing) inadmissible.
Under the relevant prison rules in Northern Ireland, prisoners are forbidden from wearing emblems outside their cells - apart from a shamrock on St Patrick's Day and a poppy on Remembrance Day. Mr Donaldson, a prisoner in HMP Maghaberry in Northern Ireland, was found guilty of disobeying an order to remove his Easter lily, worn in commemoration of the 1916 Easter Rising.
He argued that this breached his right to freedom of expression; it unlawfully differentiated between him and those allowed to wear a poppy; and the domestic proceedings did not offer him a full opportunity to argue the merits of his case.
The ECtHR accepted the domestic court's finding that any interference with his right to freedom of expression was "minimal". The prison rules pursued the legitimate aim of preventing disorder and crime, which the Applicant did not contend. The member state enjoyed a broad margin of appreciation in this context. The Court noted that "the public display of emblems can be inherently divisive and has frequently exacerbated existing tensions in Northern Ireland...emblems may have many levels of meaning which can only fully be understood by persons with a full understanding of their historical background". The Court found his complaint to be manifestly ill-founded.