Following the visit, IAPA President Danilo Arbilla, editor of the Montevideo, Uruguay, news weekly Búsqueda, expressed the hemisphere free-press organizations concern and alarm at her imprisonment, which he called a violation of freedom of expression and contrary the recognized rights granted Americans under the First Amendment.
Arbilla, who had earlier twice written to U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft in the name of the IAPA protesting the custody order, said it puts in doubt constitutional guarantees for the free flow of information, free speech and freedom of the press.
"With this court order issued against the freelance writer, people will feel they lack any protection when they give information to a journalist under condition of confidentiality, which will infringe the right of the public to be informed and amounts to a threat to the very practice of journalism," Arbilla said. "It also affects the state of law itself, in that a demand is being made that statements be divulged to the courts that were obtained with other objectives and for reasons protected under the First Amendment."
Leggett, who is determined to continue to refuse to reveal her sources, told the IAPA delegation said her decision was based on her conviction that she is acting within her free rights to free speech and to criticize public officials and the government.
The IAPA delegation that met with Leggett in addition to Arbilla was made up of former IAPA President Tony Pederson, of the Houston Chronicle, Houston, Texas, and IAPA Press Freedom Coordinator Ricardo Trotti.
Accompanied by her attorney, Jennifer Ahlen, during the 35-minute interview, Leggett reaffirmed her decision not to back down and thanked the IAPA for intervening with the United States government and raising the case with the Coordinating Committee of Press Freedom Organizations at its meeting in Paris, France, late last month, which adopted a declaration protesting the jailing with the support of the World Association of Newspapers, International Press Institute, International Broadcasting Association, International Federation of the Periodical Press, World Press Freedom Committee and the IAPA.
During the meeting with Leggett, the IAPA officers announced that her case would also be taken up at the Associations General Assembly in Washington, D.C. beginning next week for the importance that attaches to it and because of new information on it, such as her treatment in jail, in her own words, as if she were a common criminal or murderer, while her only crime had been to defend the basic principles of journalism and a free press.
Leggetts attorney said there was as yet no decision
on a second appeal that she has filed against the court order and if this is
turned down, Leggett could remain in jail for a further four months.
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