Spiegel: German intelligent service spied on foreign media

According to Der Spiegel, Germany's Federal Intelligence Service (BND) has snooped on Western news media outlets and international news agencies for years.

The BND has spied upon more than 50 phone and fax numbers as well as e-mail addresses of journalists and editorial offices of various news media outlets around the world since 1999, Der Spiegel said, citing the documents of the German parliament’s commission investigating the US surveillance in Germany and the US cooperation with local intelligence, RT reported.

According to the papers reportedly seen by Der Spiegel, the list of surveillance targets included particularly more than a dozen of contacts of BBC journalists in Afghanistan as well as the BBC central office in London and the office of the BBC World Service.

The list also featured the mobile phone numbers of Reuters' journalists and offices in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nigeria as well as a contact of the New York Times office in Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, the BND refused to comment on the issue. However, Der Spiegel’s report provoked an angry reaction from the Reporters without Borders activist group that called the actions of the BND a “disastrous violation of the freedom of the press” and a “new dimension of constitutional violations.”

Reporters Without Borders also expressed concern that German intelligence could continue its surveillance over foreign journalists. It added that it is now preparing to file a constitutional complaint against a spy law adopted by German lawmakers in October 2016.

At that time, the German parliament approved a bill granting the intelligence agencies wider powers, including spying on EU facilities, but also introducing broader oversight. Critics of the legislation immediately lambasted the law as “unconstitutional.”

In the meantime, the BBC said it was “disappointed” by the actions of the BND and called “upon all governments to respect the operation of a free press.”

EA