Germany spied on journalists at the BBC, The New York Times and Reuters for more than a DECADE
German secret service spied on journalists at the BBC,
The New York Times and Reuters for more than a DECADE
BND listed at least 50 phone and fax numbers and emails
for journalists and newsrooms 'selector' keywords for surveillance since 1999
These included several dozen numbers of the British
Broadcasting Corporation
A number for The New York Times in Afghanistan was also
on the list
News of the surveillance is a culmination of the three year
inquiry that resulted in German Chancellor Angela Merkel giving evidence last
week
By KELLY MCLAUGHLIN FOR MAILONLINE PUBLISHED: 11:53 EST,
24 February 2017 | UPDATED: 12:19 EST, 24 February 2017
Germany's foreign intelligence service BND long spied on
journalists of the BBC, The New York Times, Reuters and other media, news
weekly Der Spiegel reported Friday.
Media rights group Reporters Without Borders labelled the
alleged surveillance 'a monstrous attack on press freedom', voiced fears the
eavesdropping was ongoing and said it was planning legal action, according to
Der Spiegel.
The magazine, which has extensively worked with US
fugitive intelligence contractor Edward Snowden and reported on US and German
espionage scandals, only cited documents it had seen.
While it is unknown exactly who the BND spied on, news of
the surveillance is a culmination of the three year inquiry that resulted in
German Chancellor Angela Merkel giving evidence last week.
Der Spiegel reported that the BND had listed at least 50
telephone and fax numbers and email addresses of journalists or newsrooms on
its list of 'selector' keywords for surveillance since 1999.
These included several dozen numbers of the British
Broadcasting Corporation at its London headquarters and in Afghanistan, as well
as of the BBC World Service, it said.
A number of The New York Times in Afghanistan was also on
the list, as were mobile and satellite phone numbers of news agency Reuters in
Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nigeria.
The BND declined to comment, Der Spiegel said in an early
excerpt of an article to be published in full in its weekly edition which hits
newsstands Saturday.
A BBC spokeswoman said: 'We are disappointed to hear
these claims.
'The BBC's mission is to bring accurate news and
information to people around the world and our journalists should be able to
operate freely and safely, with full protection for their sources.
'We call upon all governments to respect the operation of
a free press.'
Meanwhile, Merkel admitted on earlier this month that she
did not know how closely Germany's spies cooperated with their US counterparts
until 2015, well after an uproar over reports of United States bugging of her
cellphone.
Merkel, who is running for a fourth term in September,
told a parliamentary committee that she assumed Germany's BND foreign
intelligence agency would not help the US National Security Agency (NSA) to spy
on European politicians and companies.
German media revealed in 2013 that the NSA had bugged
Merkel's cellphone, which strained relations with Washington.
Opposition lawmakers wanted to know if Merkel knew that
the BND was helping the NSA spy on European allies when she uttered those
words. She told the committee that she had assumed at the time that 'the BND
would not do such thing'.
The German parliament set up the investigation in 2014.
Surveillance is a sensitive issue in Germany where East
Germany's Stasi secret police and the Nazi era Gestapo kept a close watch on
the population.
Germany's highest court last year rejected a bid by
opposition politicians to make the government disclose to the investigating
committee the surveillance targets it worked on with the NSA.
German lawmakers in October approved a law to tighten
oversight of the BND, but critics said the new rules do exactly the opposite.
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