The International Press Institute (IPI) today called on the United Kingdom’s attorney general to reject efforts to force the Guardian newspaper to disclose sources of its reports about the alleged victims of hacking carried out by the News of the World.

The Guardian reported yesterday that Attorney General Dominic Grieve’s office said he would rule on whether a prosecution of the newspaper under the Official Secrets Act, intended to protect national security, was in the public interest before a case could proceed.

The newspaper said Scotland Yard applied for a production order last week “in order to seek evidence of offences connected to potential breaches relating to misconduct in public office and the Official Secrets Act”. Metropolitan police reportedly claim that Guardian journalist Amelia Hill – who has been involved in reporting on a number of the Guardian’s key phone-hacking revelations, including the revelation that the voicemail of murdered 11-year-old schoolgirl Milly Dowler was illegally accessed – may have “incited” a source to violate the Act.

A spokesman for Grieve’s office said Monday that the attorney general would confer with the Crown Prosecution Service to determine whether there was sufficient evidence to show a breach of the Act and to determine whether forcing the Guardian to disclose its sources would be in the public interest.

IPI Director Alison Bethel McKenzie said IPI stands by Guardian Editor-in-Chief Alan Rusbridger, who has commented that his paper will fight the attempt “to the utmost.”

“The Guardian’s coverage of the phone-hacking story – which revealed allegations of criminal behaviour, an attempted cover-up that misled Parliament and regulators, and three failed police investigations, and which has led to widespread condemnation and the resignations of police, media company executives and the chair of the Press Complaints Commission, as well as to Parliamentary hearings and an official inquiry into press standards and behaviour – is indisputably in the public interest,” she said.

“The allegations, which have turned out to be true, are hugely significant, and the Guardian deserves tremendous credit for doggedly following this story despite pressure from police to drop its investigation.

“We call on Attorney General Grieve to exercise discretion and reject this request. To allow it to go forward would be bad enough in this particular case. But the precedent would strike a terribly damaging blow to media freedom in Britain by criminalising the behaviour of responsible journalists who seek and receive information.”