BND SPIED ON BBC, REUTERS JOURNALISTS?

Germany’s foreign intelligence service BND long spied on journalists of the BBC, The New York Times, Reuters and other media, news weekly Der Spiegel reported on Friday.

Media rights group Reporters Without Borders labelled the alleged surveillance “a monstrous attack on press freedom”, voiced fears the eavesdropping was continuing and said it was planning legal action, according to Der Spiegel.

The magazine, which has worked extensively with Edward Snowden and has reported on US and German espionage scandals, cited only documents it had seen.

It reported that the BND had listed at least 50 telephone and fax numbers and email addresses of journalists or newsrooms on its list of “selector” keywords for surveillance since 1999.

A Spiegel journalist said the list was thought to have covered only part of the BND’s international media targets at the time.

On the list seen by Der Spiegel were several dozen numbers of the British Broadcasting Corporation at its London headquarters and in Afghanistan, as well as of the BBC World Service, it said.

A number used by The New York Times in Afghanistan was also on the list, as were mobile and satellite phone numbers of news agency Reuters in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nigeria.

The BND declined to comment,