NEW YORK, Sept 30: Expressing relief over the release of New York Times reporter Judith Miller from a US prison, the Committee to Protect Journalists on Friday decried ‘the long-term damage that the (US) federal prosecutor’s investigation has had on the free flow of information, and the message sent worldwide by jailing a journalist’.

“The US prosecutor and courts have sent a terrible message that has reverberated across the world,” CPJ Executive Director Ann Cooper said. “From Egypt to Cameroon to Venezuela, this case has been cited to justify the jailing of journalists and the repression of press freedom.”

Ms Miller was freed after spending 85 days in a prison for refusing to disclose a confidential source.

She was released on Thursday after agreeing to testify before a grand jury investigating the 2003 leak of a CIA operative’s identity. The Times reported that Judith Miller had obtained what she described as a voluntary and personal waiver from her source.

Ms Miller said her source made clear that she was not bound by any pledge of confidentiality, The Times reported.

The Times identified Ms Miller’s source as I. Lewis ‘Scooter’ Libby, chief of staff to Vice President Richard Cheney.