Danish Reporters Charged for Iraq Reports (leaked intel: no WMD)

[Barrett808]

Danish Reporters Charged for Iraq Reports
By JAN M. OLSEN, Associated Press Writer
Thu Apr 27, 4:09 PM ET

COPENHAGEN, Denmark - Two reporters at one of Denmark's largest newspapers could face jail time for publishing classified intelligence reports about Iraq's weapons program, a prosecutor said Thursday.

Michael Bjerre and Jesper Larsen, of the Berlingske Tidene newspaper, were charged Wednesday with publishing confidential government documents, state prosecutor Karsten Hjorth said. If convicted, they could be fined or sentence to up to two years in prison.

No trial date has been set.

In February and March 2004, Bjerre and Larsen wrote a series of articles based on leaked reports from the Danish Defense Intelligence Service. The reports said there was no evidence Iraq had weapons of mass destruction during

Saddam Hussein's rule — one of the main reasons given by the Bush administration for the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.

(more)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060427/ap_on_re_eu/denmark_iraq_intelligence

[Kagemusha]

1. Go ahead! Show everyone how free speech matters in Denmark!

Come on, let's see it.

[Barrett808]

2. Yeah, "The West" hasn't been acquitting itself admirably of late. n/t

[struggle4progress]

3. DENMARK: Danes indicted for report on Iraq

Reporters exposed secret government assessment that there was 'no certain information' on weapons of mass destruction in Iraq prior to U.S. invasion

Dawn
Thursday, April 27, 2006

Copenhagen --- Two Danish reporters who cited a secret government report casting doubt on the existence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq before the US-led invasion have been indicted for violating national security, the state prosecutor said on Thursday.

It is the first time in the history of modern Denmark that journalists have been charged with divulging state secrets.

Michael Bjerre and Jesper Larsen, reporters at the conservative Berlingske Tidende daily, face up to two years in jail for a series of articles published in 2004 drawing from internal analyses provided to them by a Danish intelligence operative, Frank Grevil. <snip>

Grevil was condemned to four months in prison following the publication of the articles and excerpts in February and March 2004.

http://www.asiamedia.ucla.edu/article-world.asp?parentid=44372

[Kagemusha]

4. Truly a great day for free speech in Denmark, isn't it?

I mean gee, lots of consistency here, what after lording it over the world that there's no way they'd step in and stop people from publishing something totally inoffensive like cartoons mocking the founding prophet of Islam... that's A-OK, but this is "National Security" so stifling speech is A-OK and absolutely required for keeping up relations with the US. Sure. OK. Got it.

(sarcasm)

[AlCzervik]

5. how many governments were in on this? Global collusion.

[struggle4progress]

6. Some current strategies are remarkably similar, aren't they?

[AlCzervik]

7. yes, how scary is it to think that the real globalization is this?

[MisterP]

9. Rasmussen, Silvio...

[OneBlueSky]

8. it's spreading . . . n/t

.