Telegraaf takes secret service to court

The Telegraaf newspaper is going to court to get the AIVD security service to stop listening in on phone conversations by several of its journalists.


Last month, the AIVD raided the home of one journalist and arrested one current and one former AIVD worker who the organisation claimed had passed on state secrets.
The paper claims the phones of journalist Jolande van der Graaf, the paper’s editor Sjuul Paradijs and deputy editor Joost de Haas are all being tapped. Van der Graaf was also put under surveillance, the paper says.
‘Now the freedom to gather news is at stake, journalists are taking action,’ the paper said on its front page.
The court hearing, set for July 16, has the support of the Dutch journalists union and society of newspaper editors.
The Dutch authorities authorised 12,491 telephone taps in the second half of last year, making it the most tapped country in the world, according to justice ministry figures.

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