DIANA PRINCESS OF WALES - DIANA INQUEST WILL BE PUBLIC

DIANA INQUEST WILL BE PUBLIC

The inquest into the deaths of DIANA, PRINCESS OF WALES, her lover DODI FAYED and driver HENRI PAUL will be held in public, despite initial plans to hold the investigation behind closed doors. Fayed's father MOHAMMED AL FAYED had complained over the original plans to make the hearings into the fatal 1997 car crash in Paris, France a private affair. But this decision has now been overturned by the UK's Judicial Commissions Office. Al Fayed's spokesman MICHAEL COLE says, "Mohammed believes that the public has the right to know how his son and Diana, Princess Of Wales died, how they were killed on that terrible night." Retired High Court judge DAME BUTLER-SLOSS is reported to have overturned the earlier decision because of mounting public interest in the case, which is due to be heard in early January (07). Speaking last month (NOV06), Al Fayed said, "I have tirelessly fought for truth and justice against an army of dark forces who do not want the truth to become public. I simply ask for honesty, fairness and openness." Al Fayed has long maintained his son and Diana were killed on orders of the British royal family because, he claims, she was pregnant.