The case against Telegraaf journalist Jolande van der Graaf was dropped last week, and within a day or two she took her opportunity to go public with her version of events in an interview with the Volkskrant on Monday. Van der Graaf was in the dock for running two articles last year based on leaks from the security service (AIVD), covering its role in the build-up to the Iraq war and problems with the security of the Dalai Lama. It seems that the case has been dropped because the Minister responsible for overseeing the service, Guus ter Horst, has recognised that it misused its powers of surveillance in pursuing the journalist during the first half of 2009. Ter Horst stated in June last year, shortly after van der Graaf’s house had been searched for incriminating documents, that journalists should refuse sensitive material related to state security if they were offered it. According to van der Graaf, ter Horst had also stated that the journalist was active in attempting to establish herself via contacts in the security service as an outlet for further leaks. This claim was obviously geared to justifying the surveillance and subsequent prosecution. In December the Advisory Commission on the Security Service declared that the phone tapping had been justified – but only after the publication of the second article based on a leak, not the first. The service had over-reacted. The ending of the case last week looks unmistakenly like a big a u-turn.

On 18 June 2009 Van der Graaf answered the door to her house and found ten men from the AIVD on the doorstep, warrant in hand. What followed was a six and a half hour ’fine tooth-comb’ search through everything, down to the contents of her son’s Donald Duck comics. It was also clear that her car had been fitted with a tracking device. Although willing to pass the details of this ordeal to the Volkskrant, van der Graaf couldn’t use the occasion to give anything away concerning her links with the AIVD or the story behind the leaks. The service’s employee and her partner remain under prosecution and their case will continue later this year.