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COPENHAGEN, Denmark International press freedom advocates testified Tuesday in defense of three Danish journalists on trial for publishing classified intelligence reports about Iraq's former weapons program.

Niels Lunde, top editor at the Berlingske Tidende newspaper, and reporters Michael Bjerre and Jesper Larsen, face charges of publishing confidential government documents, which is punishable by fines or up to two years in prison.

Prosecutors say the newspaper violated a law that prohibits media from publishing classified information that could harm national security.

Aidan White, head of the International Federation of Journalists, testified that he was "astonished" that the journalists had been charged.

"It is legitimate to scrutinize the government's decisions," White told the Copenhagen City Court. "The only thing that I see has been harmed here is the credibility of the government."

In February and March 2004, Bjerre and Larsen wrote a series of articles based on leaked reports from the Danish Defense Intelligence Service. The reports said there was no evidence that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction during Saddam Hussein's rule -- one of the main reasons cited as a reason for the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.

Timothy Balding, director general of the World Association of Newspapers, said as he testified Tuesday that the case had huge symbolic significance.

A conviction "would send a very bad signal to the international community and especially to the totalitarian regimes because they would free hands to prosecute media," he said.

A former intelligence officer has been sentenced to prison for leaking the documents in the case, viewed in Denmark as a landmark test of media freedom.

Two former foreign ministers, Mogens Lykketoft and Niels Helveg Petersen, were scheduled to testify later Tuesday. A verdict is expected Nov. 27 at the earliest.