Namibia's national spy service cannot rely on a blanket cover of secrecy to avoid being subjected to judicial oversight, a High Court judge stated in a landmark judgement on the issues of media freedom, the public's right to be kept informed, the protection of national security, and the rule of law yesterday.
A stance that the actions of the Namibia Central Intelligence Service (NCIS) should not be subjected to any judicial oversight must be rejected, judge Harald Geier said in a judgement in which he dismissed an attempt by Namibia's government and the director general of the NCIS to prevent a weekly newspaper from publishing an article about the alleged misuse of government properties by former members of the spy service.
...