No state secrets found at journalist's home

Tuesday 24 November 2009

Security service officials did not find any state secrets when they searched the home of journalist Jolande van der Graaf and confiscated documents and computers this summer, the Telegraaf reports on Tuesday.

And Van der Graaf's lawyer Victor Koppe has now called on the public prosecution department to stop the case against Van der Graaf, who is accused of breaking state secrecy laws.

The charges relate to Telegraaf newspaper exclusives earlier this year.

Iraq

In one, the paper accused AIVD staff of simply copying reports about Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction from Britain's M16 and other foreign security services, without any independent verification of the facts. The Netherlands supported the invasion of Iraq partly on the basis of AIVD reports.

The second focuses on claims that threats had been made against the Dalai Lama during his visit to the Netherlands in June.

An AIVD employee and her partner, who used to work for the same service, both arrested on suspicion of supplying state secrets to Van der Graaf, have also now been released from custody and an official investigation into the way they were questioned by security officials is under way. According to the Telegraaf, the couple were threatened with torture.

In July, the secret service was ordered to stop tapping Van der Graaf and other Telegraaf journalists' phones.

© DutchNews.nl

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