Letters to the Editor, Liberal Democrat News - 18.11.05
On a recent trip to the Croatian capital of Zagreb, I witnessed a strange
scene where documents from the UN war crimes tribunal were served on an indictee
- in a café.
The indictee is no alleged war criminal; he is a journalist. His crime? To
reveal the identity and testimony of a ‘protected’ witness in a
war crimes case. His indictment, and those of others, have met with protest
by press freedom groups such as Reporters without Borders.
The witness was not someone vulnerable, but a senior Croatian politician.
The public interest case was unanswerable.
Incredibly, the identity of the witness was directly revealed on the Tribunal’s
own website in the first place. Many other journalists have revealed it, even
before the indicted journalists, including London’s Institute of War
and Peace Reporting. The witness himself has freely admitted to being the
witness and has in fact given press interviews about it. The difference between
those who have been indicted and those who have not reveals all: The indicted
journalists are severe critics of the UN tribunal, the others are not.
Further, a precedent being set is that journalists are to be prosecuted for
revealing sensitive information, but not those who leaked the information.
Our press has revealed much sensitive government information on the Iraq war.
New Labour could introduce measures to deal with the press - and point to
this UN case as a precedent. Liberal Democrats should take a very close look
at this illiberal prosecution, and fast.
Brian Gallagher
London