Gag lifted on 'toxic waste' report

Alan Rusbridger, editor of The Guardian, said it had taken a five-week legal battle to "force" information about the alleged dumping of toxic waste in Ivory Coast into the open.

The Guardian said it had received a letter from lawyers for London-based Trafigura saying it was "released forthwith" from any reporting restrictions.

Mr Rusbridger said: "It has taken a five-week legal battle - involving journalists, lawyers, bloggers and parliament itself - to force this information into the open. Never again should a newspaper be threatened with contempt of court for reporting Parliament. And judges should think again about the use of 'super-injunctions' which are themselves secret."

Earlier, Speaker John Bercow defended Parliament's right to decide for itself what MPs discuss as controversy over the court order rumbled on.

Mr Bercow received a letter from solicitors Carter-Ruck, acting for Trafigura, stating that it understood the injunction to be "sub judice" under the terms of House of Commons rules designed to avoid prejudicing court proceedings.

Carter-Ruck said the final decision was subject to the Speaker's discretion, but there were concerns among MPs that the letter might inhibit an expected debate on the controversial injunction in the Commons next week. The law firm said the letter was not intended as a warning that the injunction should not be discussed in the Commons.

In a letter to Carter-Ruck released by his office on Friday, Mr Bercow replied: "This is a matter for the House and the discretion of the Chair."

The gagging order also banned disclosure of the existence of the injunction until it was revealed by an MP acting under parliamentary privilege this week. The press were initially blocked from reporting the parliamentary question tabled by Labour's Paul Farrelly, even though it was printed on the Commons order paper and published on Parliament's internet website.

The injunction was amended on Tuesday to permit reporting of parliamentary discussions on the issue, following a campaign bringing together MPs, the Guardian and micro-bloggers on the Twitter website.