LONDON: British prosecutors on Wednesday dropped charges against a civil servant accused of leaking secrets about government anti-terrorist policy to journalists.
Foreign Office worker Derek Pasquill, 48, was charged last year with breaching the Official Secrets Act by passing confidential documents to the New Statesman magazine and The Observer newspaper.
The documents formed the basis of stories about the government’s campaign to fight Islamic extremism and about British knowledge of the US policy of “extraordinary rendition – the clandestine transfer of terrorism suspects to US-run overseas prisons or foreign intelligence agencies.
Reuters reported that the leaked documents dealt with topics such as hearts and minds of Muslims , “engaging with Islamists , conversations between ministers, detainees and Egypt s Muslim Brotherhood.
The prosecution dropped the charges, saying minutes of discussions between senior Foreign Office officials, disclosed ahead of the trial, would have undermined its case that the leaks were damaging, according to Reuters. The move meant the court acquitted him.
New Statesman editor John Kampfner said the decision to drop the charges was a victory for media freedom.
“This was a misguided and malicious prosecution, particularly given that a number of government ministers privately acknowledged from the outset that the information provided to us by Derek Pasquill had been in the public interest and was responsible in large part for changing government policy for the good in terms of extraordinary rendition and policy towards radical Islam, Kampfner said.
Defense lawyer Julian Knowles said some elements within the Foreign Office had agreed the leaks were in the public interest, said Reuters reports.
Debate has raged about how the government should engage with the Muslim community since four home-grown Islamist suicide bombers killed 52 commuters on the London transport system in 2005.
I am relieved that I have now been completely vindicated in my actions in exposing dangerous government policy and changing its priorities, Pasquill told Reuters.
He was suspended by the Foreign Office pending the trial and may now be subject to internal disciplinary procedures.
It is important that the necessary confidentiality of government information is protected and the leaking of any official documents is therefore absolutely contrary to the good business of government, a Foreign Office spokesman said. -AP, with additional reporting by Reuters.
