The Dutch national security service (AIVD) is being taken to court after mass circulation newspaper De Telegraaf discovered that it was being bugged.

The paper, together with the Dutch National Journalists’ Union and the Society of Editors-in-Chief, lodged a complaint against the Dutch state. They are demanding that telephone tapping and house raids of journalists stop immediately and that any material that has been confiscated be returned. The case will be heard on 16 July.

Last month the home of one of the newspaper’s journalists, Jolande van der Graaf, was raided by police after a former security service employee was arrested for leaking information. At the time a tearful photograph of the journalist appeared in De Telegraaf. The newspaper says not only has Ms van der Graaf’s telephone been tapped, but so too have the telephones of Editor-in-Chief Sjuul Paradijs and subeditor Joost de Haas.    

Threat to society
“Now that free reporting is at risk, national journalism is taking joint action,”  writes De Telegraaf on Wednesday. Chairman of the journalists’ union, Huub Elzerman, says it is logical that the union supports De Telegraaf  as his organisation promotes international press freedom. “This is a gross violation of source protection, now that it appears journalists are being bugged. This means that a journalist cannot guarantee the protection [of anonymity] of a whistle-blower or citizen.” In a statement on its website the organisation points out that journalists often rely on anonymous sources to bring wrongdoings to light. It says that the security service practices undermine the reliability and independence of journalists. “If a country accepts that the intelligence service and police investigate and bug journalists to cover up their own failures, it is a direct threat to a constitutional society.”

Chairperson of the Society of Editors-in-Chief, Arendo Joustra, called the practice “unheard of” and  “out-of-proportion”. He points out that the security service has taken the soft option of tackling journalists instead of looking among its own ranks to find the organisation’s leaks. Telephone tapping is only allowed in life-threatening situations or in cases of terrorism.

Press freedom
The Dutch national security service has come under fire before for using unorthodox practices in response to critical stories by journalists. In 2006, it detained two Telegraaf  journalists because they refused to reveal their sources. The two, Joost de Haas and Bart Mos, had reported on top secret files on a major Dutch criminal. At the time, a court ruled that they were entitled to “invoke their right of non-disclosure as state security was not at risk.” The judge stated that "the protection of sources is one of the essential conditions for press freedom in a democratic society". On his release Joost de Haas said “It is high time that source protection for journalists is enshrined in law.”

Photo: Dutch National Security Service headquarters in Zoetermeer - Wikipedia