Twitter gives Occupy protester's tweets to U.S. judge

Occupy Wall Street demonstrators march through the streets during a protest against the rising national student debt, in New York, April 25, 2012. REUTERS/Andrew Burton

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Twitter handed over tweets from an Occupy Wall Street protester to a New York criminal judge on Friday after months of fighting a subpoena from prosecutors in a closely watched case pitting privacy and free speech advocates against law enforcement.

The company surrendered the micro-blogging posts - an inch-high stack of paper inside a mailing envelope - to Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Matthew Sciarrino. They will remain under seal while a request for a stay by the protester, Malcolm Harris, is heard next week in a higher court.