U.S. Judge Orders Release of FBI Files on Lennon

A federal judge ordered the FBI to release their files on late Beatles singer John Lennon to a California professor who believes the documents prove spy agency MI5 kept a close watch on Lennon's "counter-culture" political activities in the 1970s.

"The issue has become government secrecy and the absurdity that, today, when the FBI should have better things to do they are still trying to keep secret 34-year-old documents about the anti-war activities of a dead rock star," said University of California professor, Jonathan Wiener.

U.S. District Judge Robert Takasugi's order comes as a rejection to U.S. government's national security claims and finalizes a chapter in a 23-year fight from Wiener, who requested the information for a book he was writing shortly after Lennon was murdered in 1980, according to Reuters.

According to a spokesperson from the U.S. Departments of Justice, government lawyers are "reviewing the court's ruling," but don't know what they'll do next.

The 10 documents Wiener has requested are part of a file on Lennon which was complied by the FBI in the early 1970s, when Lennon participated in protests against the Vietnam War.

Wiener won the release of 200 pages from the file in 1997, which he published in his 2000 book Gimme Some Truth: The John Lennon FBI File. According to Wiener, the documents released in 1997 proved efforts by President Richard Nixon to deport Lennon in an effort to silence his anti-war activities in 1971 and 1972, Wiener said.

Wiener believes the documents ordered to be released may contain additional embarrassing but not damaging information collected by the British government, according to Reuters.

The U.S. government has 60 days to announce whether it will appeal the ruling.