Middle-east Arab News Opinion | Asharq Al-awsat

German minister demands ‘complete’ US answers | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
Select Page
Media ID: 55320494
Caption:

File photo—German Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich briefs the media in Berlin on March 13, 2013. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)


File photo—German Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich briefs the media in Berlin on March 13, 2013. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

File photo—German Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich briefs the media in Berlin on March 13, 2013. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

Berlin, Associated Press—Germany’s interior minister is pressing for “complete information” from Washington on the alleged US surveillance of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s cellphone and any other snooping.

Merkel complained to President Barack Obama on Wednesday after receiving information her phone may have been monitored. German spy chiefs plan to travel to Washington for talks.

Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich was quoted Sunday as telling newspaper Bild am Sonntag he wants “complete information on all accusations” and that “if the Americans intercepted cellphones in Germany, they broke German law on German soil.” He added wiretapping is a crime and “those responsible must be held accountable.”

News magazine Der Spiegel, whose research prompted the government’s response, reported that a document apparently from an NSA database indicates Merkel’s cellphone was first listed as a target in 2002.