The British government has threatened to prosecute newspapers if they reveal further details of a leaked document alleging US President George W. Bush suggested bombing Al-Jazeera television.
Three newspapers - the Daily Mirror, The Times and The Guardian - said Wednesday the government's most senior legal adviser had warned them they could face High Court action under the Official Secrets Act if more details appeared.
The Daily Mirror published a front-page story Tuesday headlined "Bush plot to bomb his Arab ally", based on details of an alleged conversation in which British Prime Minister Tony Blair is said to have talked Bush out of attacking the Qatar-based TV station.
Washington has accused Al-Jazeera of being a mouthpiece of anti-US sentiments by airing statements from al Qaeda leaders. The White House dismissed the report as "outlandish".
In response, Al-Jazeera stressed its "fair, impartial and balanced" reporting credentials and urged Downing Street to clarify the report.
"If the report is correct then this would be both shocking and worrisome not only to Al-Jazeera but to media organisations across the world," it said in a statement Tuesday.
Former British defence minister Peter Kilfoyle, who was opposed to the war in Iraq, also called for Blair to explain the situation to lawmakers, if records of the conversation existed.
"There was an attack on the hotel in Baghdad used by Al-Jazeera journalists, which caused great controversy. The US also attacked a Serbian TV station (during the Kosovo war)," he told The Times.
"It is easy to dismiss this as a glib comment but I don't find it very funny at all."
The Daily Mirror said Wednesday that despite Downing Street doing nothing to prevent Tuesday's article being published, Attorney General Peter Goldsmith's warning had effectively "gagged" them.
"We have essentially agreed to comply," the newspaper said.
The Guardian used similar language, describing the spectre of prosecution under section five of the act as a "legal gag"; the Times also spoke of "being threatened".
AFP contacted all three papers and the Attorney General's office but there was no immediate comment.
Section five of the Official Secrets Act makes it an offence to come into possession of government information, or a document from a civil servant, if that person discloses it without lawful authority.
The memo turned up in the office of then British lawmaker Tony Clarke, a member of Blair's ruling Labour Party, in May 2004, according to the Mirror's report.
Civil servant David Keogh, 49, is accused under the secrets act of handing it to Clarke's former researcher Leo O'Connor, 42. Both are to appear at Bow Street Magistrates Court in London next week.
Clarke returned the memo to Blair's office. He said O'Connor had behaved "perfectly correctly".
Prime Minister Tony Blair's government has obtained court injunctions against editors before but no prosecutions have been brought for publishing the contents of leaked documents.