Police turn over Hager's home | The Jackal

6 Oct 2014

Police turn over Hager's home

We all should be aware that in New Zealand there's a certain group of wealthy people who believe themselves to be above the law. Sometimes this includes the Police themselves, who have on numerous occasions abused their positions of power.

That's what appears to have occurred when the Police, clearly on the orders of those implicated in the Dirty Politics scandal, searched Nicky Hager's house for clues as to the identity of the Dirty Politics hacker known as Rawshark.

Today, the NZ Herald reported:

Dirty Politics author Nicky Hager has had his home raided by police searching for the hacker Rawshark.

In a 10-hour search of his house, Hager said computers and papers were seized in what appeared to be an attempt to discover the identity of the person who provided information used in the Dirty Politics book.

The book was an election bombshell based on hacked email and social media material belonging to WhaleOil blogger Cameron Slater.

The person contacted the Herald and Fairfax using the identity Rawshark while using the Twitter handle @whaledump to release information publicly.

Hager said five officers came to his Wellington home last Thursday with a search warrant.

He was in Auckland at the time the police arrived giving lectures at the University of Auckland.

What I would like to know is since when do the Police have the power to enter into Nicky Hager's house without his permission and take property because somebody else hacked Cameron Slater's computers?

Hager clearly isn't the hacker. He has in fact done no crime by using information provided to him in good faith, especially because it's of great public interest.

"Soon after the police arrived, the lead detective stated that I was not a suspect in their case, merely a witness." Hager said he told the detective there was nothing in his house which held information that would uncover the source.

"Nonetheless, he and his four colleagues seized a large collection of papers and electronic equipment belonging to my family, including computers, drives, phones, CDs, an IPOD and a camera."

Hager said the search and seizure of the material was a "fishing expedition" carried out by officers who had no idea who they were looking for, hoping for a lucky break.

"I am confident that the police took nothing that will help them with their investigation."

Hager said he would not cooperate with police in any way to reveal the Dirty Politics source - or any other source. "I believe the police actions are dangerous for journalism in New Zealand.

"It matters to all people working in the media who could similarly have their property searched and seized to look for sources. People are less likely to help the media if the police act in this way.

"The police want people to respect their role in society; they should in turn respect other people's roles in society."

He said he was speaking to his lawyers about challenging the police action.

You've also got to wonder why a judge would disregard the law and allow such a raid?

The only reason for Rawshark's identity to be made known would be to give the corrupt people named in Hager's book a target to attack. Therefore the safety of this individual is more important than any public interest there might be in making their identity known.

That makes the Police raid and the judge's decision to allow such an action highly questionable, especially because there is no evidence of Nicky Hager himself breaking any law whatsoever. In fact I would say that such reasoning behind a clear abuse of Police power is flawed, which would make the raid itself illegal.

This wouldn't be the first time the powers that be have used the Police to try and shut down the truth from being reported on. Remember what happened with the teapot tape and the news agencies that were provided a copy of what John Banks and Key had said?

This is clearly pointing to a more totalitarian regime that will abuse their power in an attempt to intimidate and stop the truth about their corrupt regime from getting out. So let's name their behaviour for what it really is...fascism!