Secrets charge men held

Press, 23 February 1977, Page 9

Secrets charge men held

NZPA-Reuter London! The legal battle to deport two American writers as security risks has taken a fresh turn with a court, order to hold three of their supporters in jail. The three were charged with violating the British Official Secrets Act. The charge was heard in the Tottenham Magistrate’s Court in north London. The three were ordered to be held in custody for seven days pending another hearing. Court spectators hissed and jeered as John Berry, aged 33 a former soldier, was led off to the cells along with two journalists. Duncan Campbell, aged 24, and Crispin Aubrey, aged 31. All three had supported the campaign against the deportation of the American writers Philip Agee and' Mark Hosenball, who have been ordered out of Britain as security risks. At the heart of the case, was a report last year in an anti-Establishment magazine.; “Time Out.” The article dis-i cussed British communication secrets — including! British methods of inter-' cepting signals used by Irish i guerrillas to detonate radiocontrolled bombs. Berry was accused ofi passing secret information: to Campbell and Aubrey. Campbel! was said to have' collaborated with Hosenball! on the “Time Out” article. Hosenball and Agee are still fighting the deportation order, backed by civil rights campaigners in Britain. One of their supporters is Mrs Regina Fischer, aged 63, mother of the former chess champion. Bobby Fischer. Mrs Fischer was arrested lying on a camp bed in protest outside the Home Office. At the Tottenham Court,) Detective Chief Superintendent Harry Nicholls of the police Special Branch said: “These charges are of a very] serious nature. The evidence] in our possession indicates 1 that the information pro-: vided by Berry to the other, two men was of a highly! classified nature.”