U.K. police have used powers under the Terrorism Act to seize the laptop of BBC “Newsnight” journalist Secunder Kermani, who has reported extensively on British-born jihadis.
Officers obtained an order from a judge that was served on the BBC and Mr. Kermani earlier this year, The Independent first revealed on Wednesday.
The BBC said police sought the order to read communications between Mr. Kermani and a man in Syria who had publicly identified himself as a member of Islamic State terror group and who was featured in “Newsnight” reports. The news has sparked a national debate on freedom of the press.
“While we would not seek to obstruct any police investigation we are concerned that the use of the Terrorism Act to obtain communication between journalists and sources will make it very difficult for reporters to cover this issue of critical public interest,” said “Newsnight” editor Ian Katz.
Jo Glanville, director of the campaign group English PEN, said the current “hysteria” around terrorism is greater than in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, The Independent reported.
“If journalists go near something to do with terrorism the police can use the Terrorism Act [2000] to go after their sources,” she said.
There are also concerns that police may attempt to use the legislation to go after sources of academic research into Islamic extremism, The Independent reported.
One BBC source said: “It think it makes it very difficult to do proper reporting in this territory when the cops can come in and get orders for material as easily as they can. The police have the authority to seize anything that they think will be of use to them in a terror investigation and that’s quite a wide net.”
On Wednesday, Mr. Kermani tweeted a thank you to his supporters.
“Thank you everyone for your messages of support and solidarity…,” he wrote.
• Jessica Chasmar can be reached at jchasmar@washingtontimes.com.
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