Netherlands: Journalists detained in attempt to discover source
01 August 2006
The drama surrounding the two journalists from the Dutch conservative daily
De Telegraaf (see
Statewatch Vol. 16 no 3) continues. Bart Mos and Joos de Haas were covering the fight against organised crime and corruption in the Netherlands, using classified information from the Dutch internal security service AIVD. At first, the case gained prominence because it became known that the AIVD had intercepted the journalist's communications in order to discover their sources within the service. What followed was a legal procedure against Mos and de Haas, leading to their detention for three days in November, an action that triggered declarations of solidarity by colleagues, the Dutch Journalists Union NVJ and even left-wing activists who politically disagree with the journalists' coverage and their populist paper. The men's detention was ordered by the examining magistrate with the aim of forcing the journalists to provide information on the former secret service agent Paul H., who is suspected to have leaked classified AIVD documents to the criminal underworld.
After three days the Chamber (
Raadkamer) of the Amsterdam Court of Appeal released the pair, even though they had not disclosed their source, because the judges decided that state security was not under threat (the reason given for their detention). The incident led to public debate on improving legislation to protect the right to silence for journalists regarding their sources, a right which is not recognised under Dutch law.
The Amsterdam Court of Appeal (
Gerechtshof) had earlier ruled that the AIVD interception of the mens' communications was, in principal, legal although it thought that it had continued for too long. The security service's parliamentary control commission (
Commissie van Toezicht betreffende de Inlichtingen en Veiligheid) also dealt with the case and concluded that the surveillance was legal. While it did not conclude that the intercepts had lasted too long it did find some minor faults, such as the interception of certain telephone conversations that bore no relation to the case at hand, which were not destroyed according to law. The Commission ordered the services to delete these from their records.
Many saw an irony in the fact that the journalists complained bitterly about their treatment and conditions of detention, whilst promoting stricter police action against political activists.
NVJ press release:
http://www.villamedia.nl/n/nvj/nieuws/2006nov27gijzeling.shtm<