National Union of Journalists Peninsular Malaysia (NUJ) has slammed the police for threatening a journalist for not revealing her sources.

According to NUJ president Chin Sung Chew, a journalist from The Star was called up by Bukit Aman yesterday over an article last October on the detentions in Lebanon of two Malaysians suspected of al-Qaeda links.

NONEShe was reportedly threatened with arrest for obstruction for refusing to divulge her sources in connection with the story.

"It is improper for the police to ask a journalist to reveal his or her sources for questioning," said Chin in a statement today.

"It is a journalist's privilege to uphold the principle of protecting their sources where sources are not revealed, especially in a controversial story, in order to protect their identity.

"It is akin to protecting witnesses to a crime. It is a long standing rule that journalist stand by."

The move is part of the police investigation against former ISA detainee Yazid Sufaat (above), who is facing terrorism charges under the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act, or Sosma.

'Confidentiality a privilege'

The article ‘Ex-militant: We send new recruits straight to the front lines’ cited a certain “former militant, who had been linked to the al-Qaeda” commenting on the arrests of the Malaysians.

The article reported, “One of them is believed to have links with a top al-Qaeda leader in Yemen, Jamal al-Badawi, who is accused of the 2000 bombing of United States navy destroyer USS Cole in Yemen.”

NONEThe source, a former Jemaah Islamiah (JI) member, was explaining how the terrorists were no longer trained in the region, but rather at the front lines of terrorist acts.

Meanwhile Chin (left) said preserving a source’s confidentiality was internationally recognised as a reporter's privilege.

"The protection of sources, sometimes also referred to as the confidentiality of sources or as ‘the reporter's privilege’ in some countries, means no one, including the courts or authorities, can compel a journalist to reveal the identity of an anonymous source for a story," he said.

He called on the authorities to stop attempting to extract the identities of the source from The Star’s journalist.