UK Government Pressured To Block Police Move Against Guardian

British attorney general Dominic Grieve is facing mounting pressure to block controversial attempts by the London police to force journalists to reveal confidential sources.

Last week, Scotland Yard applied for an order under the Official Secrets Act that would require the Guardian to reveal its sources on the phone hacking scandal. The move was widely considered an attack on press freedom -- denounced by journalists and political figures alike -- and the paper vowed to do everything in its power to resist that demand.

On Monday, Grieve announced that he would weigh in on the matter, though he did not indicate what his ruling would be.

Now, the Liberal Democrats are leading the charge to block the order. The Guardian reports that senior party members called upon the attorney general to rule that forcing the Guardian to reveal its sources under the Official Secrets Act would not serve the public interest.

Simon Hughes, the deputy leader of the party, who is suing News International over allegations of phone hacking, defended the Guardian's exposè on phone hacking at the News of the World "a public service" and said that it would be "entirely inappropriate" to use the Official Secrets Act to prosecute the journalists who were responsible.

Actor Hugh Grant, an alleged victim of phone hacking who has become somewhat of an activist in the scandal, also characterized the Met's latest move as "worrying and deeply mysterious." Grant, who was at the Liberal Democrats conference, said it disappointed his high hopes for the new investigation.

Other British newspapers are not taking the Met's intrusion on press freedom lightly either. The Observer, London Times and the Daily Telegraph have all spoken out against the perceived attack. The Met's latest move prompted a comparison of the London police to "a Berlusconi state," as well as calls for the police to "focus on its own corrupt, bribed officers."