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Alert

WAN hails victory for press freedom as court acquits journalists of disclosing Iraq intelligence secrets

(WAN/IFEX) - The following is a 4 December 2006 WAN press release:

Paris, 4 December 2006

World's Press Welcomes Acquittal of Danish Journalists

The World Association of Newspapers has welcomed today's decision by a Danish court to acquit three journalists accused of illegally publishing intelligence secrets in newspaper reports about Denmark's decision to go to war in Iraq.

"This verdict is a victory for press freedom, for the public interest and for the media's role as watchdog over governments and their agencies," said Timothy Balding, Chief Executive Officer of the Paris-based WAN, who testified at the trial as an expert witness for the defense. "We hope that other countries that are using secrecy laws to prevent embarrassing disclosures take note of the Danish decision and stop harassing journalists."

The Editor-in-Chief of Berlingske Tidende, Niels Lunde, and reporters Jesper Larsen and Michael Bjerre Rasmussen were acquitted today on charges resulting from articles published in 2004 that assessed information about the existence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. They had been charged with disclosing classified information, and could have been sentenced to prison for between six months and two years.

The intelligence officer who leaked the reports and was subsequently jailed for six months, reduced on appeal to four, said at his trial that he felt Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen had exaggerated the information to convince Denmark's Parliament to go to war in Iraq.

Mr. Balding had been a defence witness in the trial of the journalists. He testified that the information was "of high public interest" and that the newspaper had published the leaked information, after taking precautions that it was true and that it would not endanger lives, in the legitimate public interest of informing its readers and other Danish citizens of the basis for the engagement of Denmark in war.

"We are very concerned about the growing use and abuse of national security and secrecy legislation by governments and other authorities intent on preventing publication of matters of vital importance to the citizens of their countries," he testified.

The Paris-based WAN, the global organisation for the newspaper industry, defends and promotes press freedom world-wide. It represents 18,000 newspapers; its membership includes 75 national newspaper associations, newspaper companies and individual newspaper executives in 102 countries, 11 news agencies and nine regional and world-wide press groups.