All 27 executive board members of the International Press Institute (IPI), the world’s oldest global press freedom organisation, expressed unanimous support last week for Israeli journalist Uri Blau.

Blau faces charges under Israel’s Espionage Act and seven years in prison over articles he wrote for the Israeli newspaper Haaretz using classified military documents passed to him by an Israeli conscript in 2009.

The articles alleged – based on the documents received – that the Israeli military breached a court order on assassinations in the West Bank.

The IPI board members underscored the apparent public interest served by publication of the grave allegations, recalled that journalists everywhere, especially in democracies, have a fundamental right to use leaked documents as a foundation for stories of public interest and urged the Israeli authorities to recognise that right by dropping all related charges currently pending against Blau.

Further, the IPI board members rejected calls from Blau’s critics that he should be prosecuted.

Uri Blau risks conviction under Article 4: Espionage, Section 113(c) in the Israeli Penal Code, for being in possession of classified information without authorisation, but without the intention to harm the state.

The IPI Executive Board includes:

Chairman:

Carl-Eugen Eberle, Former Director of Legal Affairs, ZDF German Television, Germany

Vice Chairs:
Simon Li, Former Assistant Managing Editor, Los Angeles Times, USA
Pavol Múdry, Founder and former General Manager, SITA-Slovak News Agency, Slovakia
Galina Sidorova, Chairperson, Foundation for Investigative Journalism – Foundation 19/29, Russia
Board Members:
Owais Aslam Ali, Chairman, Pakistan Press International (PPI), Pakistan
George Brock, Professor and Head of Journalism, City University, UK
Monjurul Ahsan Bulbul, Editor-in-Chief & CEO, Boishakhi TV, Bangladesh
Kiyofuku Chuma, Chief Editor, Shinano Mainichi Shimbun, Japan
Victor de la Serna, Deputy Editor, El Mundo, Spain
Michael Ehrenreich, Co-Editor, Kristeligt Dagblad, Denmark
Alexandra Föderl-Schmid, Editor-in-Chief, Der Standard, Austria
Linus Gitahi, Group CEO, Nation Media Group, Kenya
Daniel Hadad, CEO, Grupo Infobae, Argentina
Ferial Haffajee, Editor-in-Chief, City Press, South Africa
Tom Hetland, Editor-in-Chief, Stavanger Aftenblad, Norway
So-Whan Hyon, Editor-in-Chief, News and News.com, South Korea
Edit Inotai, Foreign Editor, Nepszabadsag, Budapest, Hungary
Radomir Licina, Member of the Board & Senior Editor, Danas, Serbia
Ken MacQuarrie, Director, BBC Scotland, UK
Mikael Pentikäinen, Publisher & Senior Editor-in-Chief, Helsingin Sanomat, Finland
N. Ravi, Director, The Hindu, India
Patricia Smith, Managing Editor, Global Journalist, Missouri School of Journalism, USA
Markus Spillmann, Editor-in-Chief, Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Switzerland
Piotr Stasinski, Deputy Editor-in-Chief, Gazeta Wyborcza, Publisher, Agora SA, Poland
Dawn Thomas, Chief Executive Officer, One Caribbean Media Ltd., Trinidad & Tobago
Ferai Tinç, Former Foreign Editor and Columnist, Hürriyet, Turkey
Kabiru Yusuf, Chairman, Media Trust Ltd, Nigeria