{"id":48834,"date":"2014-10-20T12:00:19","date_gmt":"2014-10-20T11:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=48834"},"modified":"2015-05-05T21:29:38","modified_gmt":"2015-05-05T20:29:38","slug":"new-zealand-cops-raided-home-of-reporter-working-on-snowden-documents","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2014\/10\/new-zealand-cops-raided-home-of-reporter-working-on-snowden-documents\/","title":{"rendered":"New Zealand Cops Raided Home of Reporter Working on Snowden Documents"},"content":{"rendered":"

16 Oct 2014 – <\/em>Agents from New Zealand\u2019s national police force ransacked\u00a0the home of a prominent independent journalist<\/a>\u00a0earlier this month who was collaborating with\u00a0The Intercept<\/em> on stories from the NSA archive furnished by Edward Snowden. The stated\u00a0purpose of the 10-hour police raid\u00a0was to identify\u00a0the source for allegations that the reporter, Nicky Hager, recently published in a book\u00a0that caused\u00a0a major political firestorm and led to\u00a0the resignation of a top government minister.<\/p>\n

But in seizing all the paper files and electronic devices in Hager\u2019s\u00a0home, the authorities\u00a0may have\u00a0also taken\u00a0source material concerning\u00a0other unrelated stories that\u00a0Hager was pursuing. Recognizing the severity of the threat posed to press freedoms from this raid, the Freedom of the Press Foundation today announced a\u00a0global campaign<\/a> to raise funds for\u00a0Hager\u2019s legal defense.<\/p>\n

In August,\u00a0one month\u00a0before New Zealand\u2019s national election, Hager published Dirty Politics<\/em>, which\u00a0showed\u00a0that key figures in Prime Minister John Key\u2019s National Party<\/a> were feeding derogatory information about their\u00a0opponents to a virulent right-wing blogger named Cameron Slater. Hager published evidence in the form of incriminating\u00a0emails, provided by a hacker,\u00a0demonstrating\u00a0coordination between National Party\u00a0officials and Slater. The ensuing scandal\u00a0forced\u00a0the resignation<\/a> of a top Key ally, Justice Minister Judith Collins, and implicated numerous other National Party officials and supporters.\u00a0Despite the scandal, the National Party won a resounding victory<\/a> in the election, sending Key to a third term as prime minister.<\/p>\n

On October 2\u2014less than two weeks after the election\u2014detectives from a regional\u00a0\u201cmajor crime team\u201d came to Hager\u2019s Wellington home armed with a search warrant<\/a>\u00a0authorizing them to seize\u00a0anything that might lead them to\u00a0the identity of\u00a0his\u00a0source for\u00a0Dirty Politics<\/em>.\u00a0The warrant shows that prior to\u00a0the raid, a police \u201cintelligence analyst\u201d had studied Hager\u2019s media\u00a0appearances in an effort to discover\u00a0information about his sources for the book, taking particular note of references\u00a0Hager made to knowing the source\u2019s\u00a0identity.<\/p>\n

While there is no evidence that Hager\u2019s work on NSA documents was a factor in\u00a0the raid, it is possible\u00a0that\u00a0authorities knew or suspected that he\u00a0had been given access to some of those documents. Over the past several months, Hager has exchanged multiple\u00a0encrypted emails with reporters at The Intercept\u00a0<\/em>which, if obtained by New Zealand authorities under a warrant, could have tipped them off to the existence of a relationship.\u00a0When\u00a0The Intercept<\/em> reported<\/a>\u00a0last month\u00a0on the activities of the nation\u2019s\u00a0surveillance agency GCSB,\u00a0we made clear<\/a> that we were working with local journalists on further stories, and it was widely speculated that Hager was the\u00a0likeliest local candidate for such a\u00a0partnership. At the time, Key\u00a0expressed concern<\/a> that future stories from the Snowden archive could\u00a0jeopardize the country\u2019s bid for a seat on the U.N. Security Council.<\/p>\n

Whether or not Hager\u2019s work with The Intercept<\/em>\u00a0may have partially\u00a0motivated the raid, the situation\u00a0underscores the dangers of\u00a0using invasive law enforcement tactics against reporters\u2014they impede the reporting process, render source relationships very difficult to protect, and offer the very authorities that reporters are attempting to hold accountable a window into their ongoing reporting. (The Intercept<\/em>\u2018s collaboration with Hager will proceed.)<\/p>\n

The raid at Hager\u2019s home took place while he\u00a0was out of town, visiting the University of Auckland to give a series of\u00a0lectures. Six\u00a0officers arrived at his\u00a0home at 7:45 a.m., waking\u00a0his 22-year-old daughter, who was presented with\u00a0a search warrant as she answered the door.<\/p>\n

Once they entered the property, detectives spent ten\u00a0hours sifting through Hager\u00a0and his family\u2019s personal effects, making copies of any USB storage devices they found and seizing Hager\u2019s computer, personal documents, a camera, a dictaphone, CDs, and dozens of other items<\/a>\u2014not to mention\u00a0his daughter\u2019s\u00a0laptop, cellphones, and iPod.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was an unusually heavy action for New Zealand police to take\u00a0against someone in the media,\u201d Hager told The Intercept<\/em>. \u201cOccasionally\u00a0police use a warrant to go after a particular piece of evidence held by\u00a0a media person or organization. But hours of sifting through someone\u2019s\u00a0files and seizing piles of their materials does not\u00a0normally occur. It has\u00a0a strong smell of politics about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hager, New Zealand\u2019s most well known independent reporter, emphasized the potential damage the raid could have on work that is wholly unrelated to Dirty Politics<\/em>: \u201cIt is disruptive to anyone\u2019s work to suddenly not have their computers\u00a0and especially an investigative journalist\u2019s work. There is now also the\u00a0legal battle to get my equipment and files back untouched. There is no\u00a0choice about fighting it. I have to protect this and other sources for\u00a0life or why should anyone ever trust me again?\u201d<\/p>\n

The New Zealand Police did not immediately respond to\u00a0email request\u00a0seeking comment. Hager is challenging the legality of the warrant in court, and the property\u00a0that was seized remains sealed and unavailable to the police for the time being.<\/p>\n

Although he is being represented by pro bono counsel, Hager\u00a0has already\u00a0incurred legal expenses reaching into the thousands of dollars, and New Zealand\u2019s\u00a0\u201closer pays\u201d provision<\/a>\u00a0could subject him to a very large monetary judgment if he loses.\u00a0The Freedom of the Press Foundation campaign to raise money for Hager is intended to help him fight for the return of his property, challenge the legality of the raid, and defend himself against any potential future threats stemming from his work as a journalist. (The Intercept\u2018s <\/em>Glenn Greenwald and Laura Poitras are co-founders of the foundation and, along with Edward Snowden and Intercept<\/em> technology analyst Micah Lee, are also board members; in May, The Intercept<\/em>\u2018s parent company First Look Media donated $350,000 to the foundation<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

Press freedoms are under increasing assault in the English-speaking world\u2014there have been similar controversies in the other Five Eyes alliance nations of the U.S.<\/a>, the U.K<\/a>., Australia<\/a>, and<\/a> Canada<\/a>\u2014and the ability of New Zealand police officers to cavalierly raid the home of a reporter who has criticized\u00a0the government in power threatens to\u00a0establish a dangerous precedent everywhere reporters operate. A\u00a0successful campaign on Hager\u2019s behalf would signal that people around the world are willing to defend\u00a0basic press freedoms and stand against such assaults. Those wishing to do so can contribute to Hager\u2019s defense fund here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Update:<\/strong> In an emailed statement to The Intercept<\/em> on Friday, New Zealand Police\u00a0spokesman Ross Henderson denied that officers were aware Hager was\u00a0working with\u00a0leaked U.S. government documents.\u00a0Henderson insisted that the raid was aimed at seeking information\u00a0related to the source for\u00a0Dirty Politics<\/em>, and added that\u00a0the police force \u201chas a duty to appropriately investigate matters\u00a0involving alleged criminal activity, regardless of a person\u2019s occupation\u00a0or position, and Mr. Hager is no exception.\u201d Whether Hager\u2019s material is covered\u00a0by a law<\/a> in New Zealand that protects a reporter\u2019s right to keep his sources confidential, Henderson said, depends on whether Hager \u201cmeets the\u00a0legal definition of a journalist\u201d which \u201cis now a matter for the court\u00a0to rule on.\u201d<\/p>\n

____________________________<\/p>\n

Email the authors: glenn.greenwald@theintercept.com<\/a>, ryan.gallagher@theintercept.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 firstlook.org<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

16 Oct 2014 – Agents from New Zealand\u2019s national police force ransacked the home of a prominent independent journalist earlier this month who was collaborating with The Intercept on stories from the NSA archive furnished by Edward Snowden.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-48834","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-asia-pacific"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48834","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48834"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48834\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48834"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48834"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48834"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}