Hager case continues in High Court

Nicky Hager. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Dirty Politics author Nicky Hager's court action continued today as he seeks to challenge the validity of a police search warrant during the hunt for the alleged hacker Rawshark.

A procedural hearing, regarding the claim that the police search of Hager's house was unlawful, took place in the High Court at Wellington, his lawyer Felix Geiringer said.

Lawyers for Hager and the Crown discussed documents the Crown needed to provide to Hager's team, how police would return the author's property that had been seized, and a next court hearing date, he said.

The warrant was executed last month and saw police seize computers and files from the writer's Wellington home.

One of Hager's legal team, media lawyer Steven Price, earlier said the case sought to examine whether the warrant granted to search Hager's home took account of source privacy.

"Our case will be that the police didn't properly consider Nicky Hager's right to protect his confidential sources. This is not just (the alleged hacker) Rawshark but dozens of other sources."

The other strand of the case was a separate High Court case in which the police are seeking judicial advice over their rights of access to material seized during the search. Hager had claimed journalistic privilege over the material.

The police investigation was launched after a complaint from blogger Cameron Slater, whose hacked email and social media conversations formed the backbone of Dirty Politics.

- additional reporting New Zealand Herald