A former police crime intelligence official will appear in the Pretoria Specialised Commercial Crimes Court on Friday for allegedly giving false information to a judge in order to spy on the cell phones used by two investigative journalists at the Sunday Times.
This is one of the first known cases of surveillance of journalists to come before the courts in a post democratic South Africa‚ according to freedom of expression activist group the Right2Know Campaign (R2K).
The phones of journalists Mzilikazi wa Afrika and Stephan Hofstatter were monitored in 2010.
Crime Intelligence allegedly lied to a judge in order to get an interception warrant by matching the journalists’ phone numbers with fictional names in an affidavit and suggesting that the warrant was required to probe a criminal syndicate.
“As a result‚ a warrant was issued to collect wa Afrika and Hofstatter’s metadata – a record of who they called and exchanged messages with‚ and their locations. This would be a serious violation of their rights as journalists and would potentially expose the identities of their sources‚” said R2K in a statement.
The former crime intelligence official faces charges of contravening part of the Regulation of Communications and Provision of Communication-Related Information Act.
“The decision to bug wa Afrika and Hoftstatter’s phones was evidently part of a campaign to target journalists who were viewed as ‘threats’ to the police. R2K welcomes the fact that this matter is being prosecuted‚ although the fact that only one official now faces charges‚ when the circumstances suggest more senior officials would also have been involved‚ is a cause of concern.”
R2K is running a campaign against state surveillance. The group said the Sunday Times case was similar to a matter in the Bellville Commercial Crimes Court‚ where a suspended Crime Intelligence official faced similar charges – of allegedly fraudulently getting warrants from a magistrate to collect the phone records of lawyers‚ police officials‚ and others.
Tiso Black Star Group Digital
Ex police spook in court for spying on Sunday Times reporters
This is one of the first known cases of surveillance of journalists to come before the courts in a post democratic South Africa‚ according to freedom of expression activist group the Right2Know Campaign (R2K).
The phones of journalists Mzilikazi wa Afrika and Stephan Hofstatter were monitored in 2010.
Crime Intelligence allegedly lied to a judge in order to get an interception warrant by matching the journalists’ phone numbers with fictional names in an affidavit and suggesting that the warrant was required to probe a criminal syndicate.
“As a result‚ a warrant was issued to collect wa Afrika and Hofstatter’s metadata – a record of who they called and exchanged messages with‚ and their locations. This would be a serious violation of their rights as journalists and would potentially expose the identities of their sources‚” said R2K in a statement.
The former crime intelligence official faces charges of contravening part of the Regulation of Communications and Provision of Communication-Related Information Act.
“The decision to bug wa Afrika and Hoftstatter’s phones was evidently part of a campaign to target journalists who were viewed as ‘threats’ to the police. R2K welcomes the fact that this matter is being prosecuted‚ although the fact that only one official now faces charges‚ when the circumstances suggest more senior officials would also have been involved‚ is a cause of concern.”
R2K is running a campaign against state surveillance. The group said the Sunday Times case was similar to a matter in the Bellville Commercial Crimes Court‚ where a suspended Crime Intelligence official faced similar charges – of allegedly fraudulently getting warrants from a magistrate to collect the phone records of lawyers‚ police officials‚ and others.
Tiso Black Star Group Digital
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