Bad precedent for press freedom |
A Canadian court`s decision compelling a journalist to hand over private communications he had with a source sets a negative precedent for press freedom, the Committee to Protect Journalists said .The Ontario Superior Court of Justice on March 29 ordered Ben Makuch to hand over his communications with Farah Shirdon, a Canadian citizen who allegedly traveled to Iraq and Syria to join the Islamic State group. Makuch wrote a series of articles for Vice between June and October 2014 about Shirdon, whom he identified by his nom de guerre, Abu Usamah. Canadian prosecutors in September 2015 charged Shirdon in absentia with participation in a terrorist group and in terrorist activity. Canadian security officials on February 13, 2015, obtained a production order--a judicial order for information--demanding that Makuch turn over all the communications that he had with Shirdon via the Kik messaging application. The order also required Makuch to turn over information about how he got in contact with Shirdon. Vice and Makuch challenged that order on the grounds that it could have a chilling effect on press freedom, Iain MacKinnon, Vice`s lawyer in the case, told CPJ by telephone. MacKinnon said that Vice is considering an appeal.
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