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NEW YORK TIMES REPORTER RELEASED FROM JAIL

"New York Times" reporter Judith Miller was released from prison on 29 September 2005 after agreeing to testify before a U.S. grand jury about the leaking of a CIA operative's identity in 2003, reported the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and Reporters Without Borders (Reporters sans frontières, RSF).

Miller spent 85 days in jail for refusing to divulge the identity of a confidential source. The "New York Times" reported that she agreed to testify after obtaining a voluntary and personal waiver from I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, chief of staff to Vice President Richard Cheney, who made it clear to her that she was not bound by any pledge of confidentiality.

CPJ and RSF say Miller's imprisonment has damaged press freedom in the U.S. by curtailing the journalistic principle of source confidentiality. They say it also sends the wrong message to other countries who could use the case to justify crackdowns on the press (see: http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/67761/).

Visit these links:
- CPJ: http://www.cpj.org/news/2005/USA30sept05na.html
- U.S. Sends Wrong Message to the World: http://www.cpj.org/op_ed/comment_fsmyth_30june05.html
- RSF: http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=15178
- Who is Judy Miller Kidding? http://www.alternet.org/story/26303/
- NY Times to Tell All about Miller Case: http://tinyurl.com/dkafk