English daily newspaper The Daily Mirror has been threatened with prosecution under the Official Secrets Act if they reveal any further details of a document revealing US President George W. Bush's plans to bomb Al Jazeera news agency.
The Mirror's revelations on Tuesday has led to threats from the government. |
Attorney General Lord Goldsmith made the threat to the Mirror 24 hours after the paper informed Downing Street of its intention to publish the plan.
Editor of the newspaper, Richard Wallace, said of the threat last night: "We made No 10 fully aware of the intention to publish and were given 'no comment' officially or unofficially.
Suddenly 24 hours later we are threatened under section 5 [of the secrets act]".
Section 5 of the secrets act says it is an offence to have come into the possession of government information, or a document from a crown servant, if that person discloses it without lawful authority.
The Mirror, who broke the story under the headline "Bush plot to bomb his Arab ally", said that they have "essentially agreed to comply" with the threat.
The White House response to the report was: "We are not going to dignify something so outlandish with a response."
The Mirror reported that the memo turned up last year at the Northampton office of then-Labour MP Tony Clarke.
A civil servant, David Keogh, is now accused of passing the memo to Leo O'Connor, who once worked for Clarke.
O'Connor, a former researcher for Mr Clarke, was charged with receiving a document under section 5 of the secrets act. Keogh, a former Foreign Office official who later moved to the Cabinet Office, was charged last week with making a "damaging disclosure of a document relating to international relations".
Both Keogh and O'Connor were released on police bail and are due to appear at magistrate's court on November 29 to face charges.
