Judge to Hear North Objections to Deletions From Secret Papers

The judge in the Iran-Contra case agreed Tuesday to consider Oliver L. North’s objections to the deletion of sensitive references from classified documents that prosecutors want to use as evidence.

U.S. District Judge Gerhard A. Gesell scheduled closed hearings beginning next Wednesday, “and continuing thereafter from day to day as long as necessary,” to discuss the proposed deletions of references to sensitive matters, including the names of countries, foreign officials and U.S. intelligence agents.

Independent counsel Lawrence E. Walsh has proposed deleting the references from the 350 documents that he wants to use as evidence against the former presidential aide in order to protect U.S. intelligence operations and relations with foreign countries.

Gesell said North “should be prepared to explain why a proposed redaction (editing) is relevant and material for his defense” against charges that he conspired with former White House National Security Adviser John M. Poindexter and two arms dealers to illegally divert U.S.-Iran arms sale profits to the Nicaraguan rebels.

The closed hearings will be held under provisions of the Classified Information Procedures Act, which regulates the disclosure of secret documents as evidence in court.

The judge’s brief order made no mention of North’s proposal to disclose the contents of about 40,000 pages of classified material in 3,500 secret documents.

Walsh has asked Gesell to declare the list of documents that North proposed as defense exhibits legally insufficient and bar him from introducing any of these papers into evidence.

The prosecutor contends that North proposed many of the documents as exhibits simply to provoke the government into dropping the charges in order to avoid disclosure of some of the nation’s most sensitive secrets.