French police detain reporter for leaking information

A French reporter has been arrested by the French authorities because of a report he wrote in 2021. The report claimed that Egypt used French intelligence to harm and murder innocent people.

According to reports, the police searched Ariane Lavrilleux’s house on September 19th and then arrested her.

Her lawyer said Lavrilleux was being asked questions because the police are investigating something that could harm the country’s safety.

Amnesty International France strongly criticized the arrest.

“We are extremely concerned,” expressed Katia Roux from Amnesty. “To arrest a journalist for doing her job, especially for sharing important information that the public needs to know, is a danger to freedom of the press and the protection of sources. ”

According to reports, Lavrilleux is currently being questioned by police officers from the French intelligence service known as the General Directorate for Internal Security, or DGSI.

In her report for 2021, she claimed that Egyptian authorities used information from French intelligence to bomb and kill smugglers on the border between Egypt and Libya from 2016 to 2018. The information she used was leaked and was supposed to be kept secret.

The report says that French forces were involved in at least 19 bombings against regular people.

It was published by Disclose, a website that focuses on finding out the truth.

Disclose said that the French government, during the presidencies of President François Hollande and President Emmanuel Macron, were continuously informed about the progress by various military departments, but their worries were not taken seriously.

When Disclose released the report, they admitted it contained secrets about national security. However, they shared the information because they believed it was important for democracy and people’s right to know.

Disclose said that using the concept of “classified information” as an excuse is not acceptable for safeguarding a campaign of random killings of innocent people.

It also mentioned that, by sharing the report, it was knowingly breaking the law.

France’s military department lodged a legal complaint for “breaking national defense secrets” after the articles were published.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) wants Ms. Lavrilleux to be freed and for all criminal investigations against her to be stopped. They also believe that the police should not question her about where she gets her information from.

Reporters should have the freedom to write about topics related to the country’s defense and security without any restrictions. Asking reporters about who they get information from in secret makes them feel stressed for no good reason and might make them scared to report about defense matters, warned Attila Mong, who works for CPJ in Europe.