John Wadham, director of Liberty:
"People shouldn't be sent to prison for telling the truth. We protect whistleblowers in every other important area of national life - and rightly so. It's essential that we do the same for whistleblowers who try to warn us from the incompetence or criminality of our own security services.

"The sentence clearly shows that the judge accepts David acted out of motives in the public interest. Nonetheless, David has gone to prison for telling the truth. That seems to me wrong".

Annie Machon, on behalf of herself and David Shayler:
"Dave didn't even get the chance of a fair trial. There's been much attention paid to the single PII certificate sought in the Burrell trial: we had to deal with at least four. Dave was prevented from putting the substance of his case to the jury, so they were unable to reach a verdict that reached beyond the letter of the law to real justice. And even though they were allowed so little evidence in front of them, they still needed three-and-a-half hours to reach a verdict, which shows their concern.

"Contrary to certain reports in today's media, Dave did not reveal the names of agents or endanger their lives. Nor is he a traitor. He stood up to be counted and to make a difference, and I honour him for that.

"To throw Dave in prison is pointless and wasteful. Other intelligence officers of integrity must still speak out about unlawful and improper abuses of power. "We have to reform the Official Secrets Act so this does not happen again".