London: The father of Princess Diana's last boyfriend urged Britain today to try and force French paparazzi to give evidence at her death inquest, after a court barred unchallenged written testimony. Mohamed al-Fayed, father of Dodi Fayed, wants Justice Secretary Jack Straw to persuade the French government to put pressure on the paparazzi present after Diana s fatal 1997 car crash, his spokesman Michael Cole said. "You cannot have a situation where 12 paparazzi make self-serving statements which are maybe incorrect without any challenge at all," Cole said.

"This decision does increase pressure on Mr Straw to use his best efforts with his opposite number in Paris so that French witnesses will come and give evidence," he added. Cole's comments came after two High Court judges ruled that written testimony from the paparazzi cannot be used at the inquest into her death in a Paris road tunnel without cross-examination.

The French photographers have declined to testify in person at the inquest, and France has rejected a previous request by British authorities to force them to give evidence. The coroner in the case, Lord Justice Scott Baker, had said the paparazzis written evidence could be allowed.

But lawyers for the family of Diana s driver Henri Paul argued that it should not be used if there was no chance to cross-examine the photographers afterwards.
The full consequences of the ruling were not immediately clear, but in theory it could leave the inquest without testimony from paparazzi who are seen as potentially key figures in the tragedy. Complicatng matters further, the inquest coroner was given leave to appeal against the ruling.

Source : PTI