Spoetnik
14-11-06, 16:30
Danes on trial over Iraq secrets
The editor and two reporters from one of Denmark's main newspapers have gone on trial charged with publishing secret intelligence about Iraqi weapons.
In articles published in 2004 they quoted from analysis by a Danish intelligence agent, Frank Grevil.
His report, written before the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, concluded that there was no evidence of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in Iraq.
The Berlingske Tidende journalists could go to jail if found guilty.
It is being viewed as a landmark case in Denmark, which is usually an ardent defender of freedom of expression.
An offence of publishing confidential Danish government documents is punishable by fines or up to two years in prison.
Berlingske Tidende's chief editor Niels Lunde went on trial along with reporters Michael Bjerre and Jesper Larsen on Monday. They pleaded not guilty.
Former intelligence officer Major Frank Soeholm Grevil was sentenced last year to four months in jail for leaking the documents to the reporters.
Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen supported the US-led invasion of Iraq and told parliament he was convinced former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was in possession of WMD.
The journalists' defence lawyer Henrik Dahl told the court his clients had done nothing wrong "because there was a huge public interest" in the information they published, the Associated Press reported.
In October 2003, seven months after the invasion, the body set up by the US to search for WMD, the Iraq Survey Group, reported that no such weapons had been found.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6143794.stm
Die journalisten hadden beter de profeet kunnen beledigen, dan deense overheids leugen te exposeren. Zo zie je maar waar big brother wetgeving tot leid. Eerst kwamen ze voor de journalisten. ...
The editor and two reporters from one of Denmark's main newspapers have gone on trial charged with publishing secret intelligence about Iraqi weapons.
In articles published in 2004 they quoted from analysis by a Danish intelligence agent, Frank Grevil.
His report, written before the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, concluded that there was no evidence of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in Iraq.
The Berlingske Tidende journalists could go to jail if found guilty.
It is being viewed as a landmark case in Denmark, which is usually an ardent defender of freedom of expression.
An offence of publishing confidential Danish government documents is punishable by fines or up to two years in prison.
Berlingske Tidende's chief editor Niels Lunde went on trial along with reporters Michael Bjerre and Jesper Larsen on Monday. They pleaded not guilty.
Former intelligence officer Major Frank Soeholm Grevil was sentenced last year to four months in jail for leaking the documents to the reporters.
Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen supported the US-led invasion of Iraq and told parliament he was convinced former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was in possession of WMD.
The journalists' defence lawyer Henrik Dahl told the court his clients had done nothing wrong "because there was a huge public interest" in the information they published, the Associated Press reported.
In October 2003, seven months after the invasion, the body set up by the US to search for WMD, the Iraq Survey Group, reported that no such weapons had been found.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6143794.stm
Die journalisten hadden beter de profeet kunnen beledigen, dan deense overheids leugen te exposeren. Zo zie je maar waar big brother wetgeving tot leid. Eerst kwamen ze voor de journalisten. ...