Murdoch wiretapping affair: phone calls of around 5,800 people tapped
According to new information, the phone-hacking scandal surrounding the now-defunct British newspaper *News of the World* has affected far more people than previously known. British police reported that the phone calls of nearly 5,800 people were tapped in connection with the scandal.
Compared to previous figures from July, this is almost 2,000 more victims than previously assumed. The new number of victims should not be regarded as definitive, as it could still change in the course of further investigations, the police explained late on Thursday.
Journalists from the News of the World had been tapping the cell phone voicemails of celebrities and relatives of killed soldiers and victims of crime for years. The scandal had already come to light in 2006. It expanded in July when it became known that journalists from the newspaper had also hacked the voicemail of a schoolgirl who had been kidnapped and later murdered. The affair triggered a political earthquake and led to the closure of the newspaper, the resignation of confidants of media mogul Rupert Murdoch, senior police officers and a member of Prime Minister David Cameron's staff. (SDA)
