British civil servant cleared of secrets "leak"

LONDON (Reuters) - A court cleared a British civil servant on Wednesday of breaking the Official Secrets Act by leaking confidential details of counter-terrorism policies because they did not harm the national interest.

Derek Pasquill, 48, a Foreign Office official, faced six charges that he made damaging disclosures by passing classified documents to weekly New Statesman and newspaper the Observer.

The leaked documents dealt with topics such as "hearts and minds of Muslims", "engaging with Islamists", conversations between ministers, "detainees" and Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood.

The prosecution dropped the charges, saying minutes of discussions between senior Foreign Office officials, disclosed ahead of the trial, would have undermined its case that the leaks were damaging. The move meant the court acquitted him.

Defence lawyer Julian Knowles said some elements within the Foreign Office had agreed the leaks were in the public interest.

He said they had fuelled debate about the U.S. policy of "extraordinary rendition" -- the practice of moving terrorism suspects to secret prisons -- and engaging with Islamists.

Debate has raged in Britain about how the government should engage with the Muslim community since four home-grown Islamist suicide bombers killed 52 commuters on the London transport system in 2005.

"This was a misguided and malicious prosecution, particularly given that a number of government ministers privately acknowledged from the outset that the information provided to us by Derek Pasquill has been in the public interest," said New Statesman editor John Kampfner.

Kampfner said ministers had also recognised the leaked information was in large part responsible for changing government policy for the good on both extraordinary renditions and engaging with Islamists.