Based on information provided to the International Press Institute (IPI), on 6 July, Judge Thomas F. Hogan, sitting at the Federal District Court in Washington, DC, jailed New York Times reporter Judith Miller.

The Judge’s decision follows his judgement at an October 2004 hearing that Miller and Time magazine journalist, Matthew Cooper, were guilty of civil contempt. Although Cooper also faced the possibility of jail, despite Time magazine’s decision last week to provide the court with documents related to the case, a last minute decision by his source to waive his right to confidentiality saved him from a similar fate.

It is believed that Miller will remain in jail until either she decides to cooperate with the prosecution and reveal her sources or the term of the grand jury is exhausted. In the United States, grand juries sit for a period of 18 months and the one in the Valerie Plame investigation case has approximately 120 days left of its term.

Commenting on the case, IPI Director, Johann P. Fritz, said, “I am truly disturbed that the court has seen fit to imprison a journalist for practicing her profession. This case seems to be the opening salvo in what will become a long running battle by the Federal authorities in the United States to force journalists to reveal their confidential sources.”

“There is a very real risk that the decision will send the journalism profession tumbling back to a period in its history where, in its relationship with government and other institutions, many journalists were merely the passive receivers of information rather than actively engaged in investigative journalism on behalf of the American people.”

“Such a development would have dire consequences for American society because it weakens the essential checks on corporate and political life. As a result, information that should rightfully be within the public domain will remain hidden; an outcome that will be to the detriment of U.S. citizens everywhere and to the benefit of those who seek to avoid scrutiny,” said Fritz.

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Note: The grand jury was originally convened after syndicated columnist Robert Novak named Valerie Plame as a CIA operative in a 14 July 2003 article. Plame is married to former U.S. diplomat Joseph C. Wilson IV, who was enlisted by the Bush administration to travel to Niger to investigate allegations that Iraq was attempting to buy enriched uranium.

Novak’s column, which cited two unnamed administration sources, appeared eight days after Wilson wrote an op-ed in the New York Times that challenged the administration’s assertions on the uranium issue. Other reports surfaced later with Plame’s identity, some suggesting that the administration officials leaked the name in retaliation against Wilson. The disclosure of an undercover CIA officer is potentially a federal crime under the Intelligence Identities Protection Act of 1982.