Reporters Head To Prison For WMD Leaks
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
COPENHAGEN, Denmark – Two reporters at one of Denmark’s largest newspapers could face jail time for publishing classified intelligence reports about Iraq’s weapons program, a prosecutor said yesterday.
Michael Bjerre and Jesper Larsen, of the Berlingske Tidene newspaper, were charged Wednesday with publishing confidential government documents, a state prosecutor, Karsten Hjorth, said. If convicted, they could be fined or sentence to up to two years in prison. No trial date has been set.
In February and March 2004, Messrs. Bjerre and Larsen wrote a series of articles based on leaked reports from the Danish Defense Intelligence Service. The reports said there was no evidence Iraq had weapons of mass destruction during Saddam Hussein’s rule.
Editor in chief Niels Lunde said the Berlingske Tidende and its reporters acted correctly.
