The World - News from Aug. 4, 1987

One of Britain’s most respected legal figures joined the chorus of dissent over the government’s attempt to suppress “Spycatcher,” the memoirs of a former counterintelligence agent. Lord Scarman, a former member of the country’s highest appellate body, the Lords of Appeal, said in a letter to The Times of London that a ban on publishing extracts from Peter Wright’s book violated the public’s right of free speech and access to information. The government has banned the book on grounds Wright violated a vow of confidentiality in revealing his activities as a counterspy. Several British papers have published extracts.