Memories are short in journalism, but reading about the attempts by the Met to force the
Guardian to hand over source material in the Hackgate case, reminded me of a case the same newspaper group fought over a decade ago.
Bizarrely, the story isn’t in the Guardian’s online archive, which doesn’t go back far enough. But here’s the report of the original hearing in The Independent.
Libya, spooks and a renegade MI5 officer: the story had it all.
“In a further crackdown on leaks from the renegade MI5 officer David Shayler, the Government launched a court action yesterday against two newspapers. It is part of the most aggressive legal
campaign by a government to stop an intelligence leak since Margaret Thatcher won the Spycatcher injunctions in the 1980s.
The Observer and The Guardian were required to appear at the Old Bailey as the Special Branch demanded that journalists’ notes, documents and e-mails be handed over.
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