One blow for freedom of the press

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20061019.wjustice1019/BNStory/National/home

An Ontario judge dealt a landmark blow for press freedom Thursday, striking down a secrecy law that was used to justify RCMP raids on a journalist they suspected of having received leaked material in the Maher Arar affair.

Superior Court of Ontario Judge Lynn Ratushny said the Mounties used “the spectre” of criminal charges against Ottawa Citizen reporter Juliet O'Neill to try to uncover her confidential sources and cast a chill over the entire media.

By treating Ms. O'Neill as “one of its investigative arms,” the Mounties undermined the integrity of the judicial process, Judge Ratushny said.

and

The Mounties raided Ms. O'Neill's home and office on in January, 2004, in hopes of finding the source of information she had used to write articles about the Arar case. (Mr. Arar, an Ottawa telecommunications engineer, was detained at a New York airport in 2002 and ended up spending months in a Syrian jail after being deported to birthplace by suspicious U.S. authorities.)