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Josh Wolf ordered to return to jail

Josh Wolf (pictured), a freelance journalist who spent a month in a federal detention center because he refused to provide a federal grand jury with outakes from a video he shot of an anarchist protest, has been ordered to return to jail by a three-judge panel from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The San Francisco-based panel ruled that a 1972 Supreme Court precedent requires everyone, including journalists, to appear before grand juries if they have been summoned. The court wrote: “The Supreme Court has declined to interpret the First Amendment to ‘grant newsmen a testimonial privilege that other citizens do not enjoy.'” Wolf, who is depending on donations to fund his legal defense, told the AP through his attorney that he plans to turn himself in at the federal prison in the East Bay city of Dublin before his 1 p.m. Wednesday deadline. Wolf’s attorney, Jose Luis Fuentes, said that jailing Wolf won’t result in the federal government getting his videotape — “It’s just punishment.” [PPC, Sept. 1: Wolf released from prison]

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