International
Britta Pedersen / AP
Press freedom advocates sounded alarm Friday after Germany opened a treason investigation into a news website that a broadcaster said had reported on plans to increase state surveillance of online communications.
German media said it was the first time in more than 50 years that journalists had faced treason charges, and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said the investigation could have "serious implications" on German news outlets covering national security issues.
"The Federal Prosecutor has started an investigation on suspicion of treason into the articles ... published on the Internet blog Netzpolitik.org," a spokeswoman for the prosecutor's office said Thursday.
She said the move followed a criminal complaint by Germany's domestic intelligence agency, the Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), over articles about the BfV that appeared on the website on Feb. 25 and April 15. It said the articles had been based on leaked documents.
Public broadcaster ARD reported that Netzpolitik.org had published an article this year on how the BfV was seeking extra funding to increase its online surveillance, and another about plans to set up a special unit to monitor social media. Both reports were based on leaked confidential documents.
The website specializes in Internet politics, data protection, freedom of information and digital rights issues.
"This is an attack on the freedom of the press," Netzpolitik.org journalist Andre Meister, targeted by the investigation along with editor-in-chief Markus Beckedahl, said in a statement. "We're not going to be intimidated by this."
Michael Konken, head of the German press association (DJV), echoed the sentiment, and called the probe "an unacceptable attempt to muzzle two critical journalists."
"These are grave allegations with potentially serious implications, not only for Markus Beckedahl and Andre Meister, but also for German media covering national security issues," Nina Ognianova, CPJ's Europe and Central Asia program coordinator, said in a statement issued Friday. "CPJ is monitoring these developments with great concern."
In 1962, Defense Minister Franz Josef Strauss was forced to resign after treason charges were brought against the news weekly Der Spiegel for a cover story alleging that West Germany's armed forces were unprepared to defend it against the communist threat in the Cold War.
Beckedahl told the TV network N24: "I'm torn between feeling like this is an accolade and the thought that it could end up leading to jail."
Al Jazeera and Reuters
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