According to reports attributed to his lawyers, Haaretz journalist Uri Blau will return to the army hundreds of documents he received from Anat Kamm, the former soldier currently on trial for allegedly copying 2,000 documents from the office of OC Central Command.
Blau’s lawyers, Mibi Mozer and Tali Lieblich, who returned from London, where Blau is currently residing, were not available to confirm the reports on Wednesday.
The lawyers were quoted as saying Blau did not take the documents abroad with him and that they were in Israel. They did not disclose the documents’ whereabouts.
The Internet news site Ynet quoted Lieblich as saying, “We received the information from Uri, and I wish to make it clear that the documents are in Israel and that he did not take them anywhere. It’s time to put a stop to that rumor. We will hand over the documents to the security authorities in the next few days.”
Two weeks ago, Mozer told The Jerusalem Post that negotiations between the army and Blau broke down after the army demanded that the reporter hand over all the documents he had received throughout his journalistic career. Blau worked for Ha’ir, a Tel Aviv weekly owned by Haaretz, before moving to the parent paper.
Mozer said that during the negotiations, the army also insisted on arresting and questioning Blau and putting him on trial for possession of classified material.
The army has not lifted these demands and, as a result, Blau will not return to Israel for the time being, said Mozer.
According to the state, Blau lied to the security authorities at the beginning of the affair, when he agreed to hand over 50 documents that he allegedly received from a source he refused to disclose, and told the investigators that those were all the documents he had. The state learned differently after tracking down the source of his material to Kamm, who said she had given Blau hundreds of documents.
http://www.jpost.com/Israel/Article.aspx?id=174210
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