Berlin, Germany
The German intelligence service (BND) has been spying on foreign media journalists, including the British BBC, the New York Times and the Reuters news agency, according to an article in Der Spiegel.
The BND has included at least 1999 telephone, fax or e-mail addresses of journalists or editorial teams "since 50" in its spy list, the weekly writes in an excerpt from an article to be published on Saturday.
The magazine does not specify whether the German secret services continue to monitor today.
When asked by the French Agency, the German magazine points out that it does not know how long it has been active (the monitoring network). "We speculate that he is no longer active, but we are not sure," Spiegel journalist Martin Knobbe told AFP.
The list also includes "several dozen" telephone numbers of journalists working for the BBC at its offices in London or Afghanistan, as well as the BBC World's editorial team, Der Spiegel reports, citing "documents". which came to his knowledge.
"We are disappointed to hear these allegations," a BBC spokesman told AFP.
"Our journalists must be able to act freely and safely, with full protection of their sources. We call on all governments to respect the functioning of a free press, "she said.
A New York Times phone number in Afghanistan was also monitored, as well as the mobile and satellite phones of Reuters in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nigeria, according to the newspaper.
In contact with the French Agency, Reuters and the New York Times have not yet responded.
The documents in Der Spiegel 's possession "do not cover all but one part of BND' s monitoring practices. That is why the list (of) the media may not be complete, "said Knobbe.
The German branch of Reporters Without Borders spoke of a "monstrous attack on freedom of the press", according to Der Spiegel.
The BND declined to comment to Spiegel about its allegations.
Source: news.in.gr
