BERLIN, Aug. 9 (UPI) -- Seventeen German journalists are under investigation for quoting from classified documents while covering the "rendition" of terror suspects.
The head of the parliamentary investigating committee, Siegfried Kauder, said the investigation was launched because "you could read more from the classified documents in the press than what was available to the committee," Britain’s The Independent reported Thursday.
The New York based Committee to Protect Journalists has expressed concern over the reporters being targeted.
"We are deeply worried about the criminal proceedings launched against our German colleagues and call on state prosecutors to drop the probe immediately," said CPJ head, Joel Simon. "With respect to the sensitivity of the information published, whoever leaked the classified documents should be investigated, not the journalists. It is their duty to publish matters of public interest. They should not be criminally charged for doing their job."
The “rendition” documents had to do with alleged German government help involving CIA-run prisoner flights where detainees allegedly were taken to prisons and tortured.
