HONOLULU - Federal prosecutors oppose releasing e-mails in which Gov. Linda Lingle's former chief of staff was blackmailed over his behavior on the governor's trips to the Philippines.

The e-mails were among documents requested by The Associated Press in a letter to U.S. District Judge Michael Seabright to shed light on the events that led to the June 28 resignation of Bob Awana, Lingle's former top aide and campaign chairman.

Seabright had ordered attorneys to explain why documents in the case should not be made available to the public since the case concluded Oct. 29, when Rajdatta Patkar was sentenced to a year in prison after he pleaded guilty to extortion for trying to blackmail Awana for $35,000. Patkar is expected to be deported to India.

Awana arranged for women to go on dates with him and businessmen during an official state trade mission led by Lingle to the Philippines in January 2006, according to Patkar's attorney.

The blackmail case has led to a federal investigation into the behavior of state officials and other members of the governor's trade missions to China, South Korea and the Philippines over the last three years, The Honolulu Advertiser has reported.

Lingle's administration, in a written response to an interview request from The Associated Press, said the extortion was a personal matter and the governor wasn't aware of any impropriety by her staff on official state trips to the Philippines.

She has refused to answer questions about Awana's resignation or the blackmail case. Awana has not responded to interview requests since his unexplained resignation following Patkar's indictment.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Clare Connors told the judge in a court filing posted Friday the e-mails should remain sealed to protect Awana because he was the victim of the blackmail.

"In all cases involving victims, irrespective of whether they are high-profile members of the community, the United States is obligated by law to treat victims with 'fairness and respect for the victim's dignity and privacy,"' Connors wrote in a response to the judge's order.

Patkar has no objections to revealing the contents of the documents, public defender Pamela Byrne said in her response to the court, filed Wednesday.

Seabright's order came after a written request from the AP asked for the release of all documents in the case.

"We believe that because this case involved one of the state's highest ranking government officials and activities he engaged in while conducting state business, we feel the public has a legitimate interest in and a right to know details of this extortion case," Mark Rochester, AP assistant chief of bureau for Honolulu, said in a letter to the court.

Neither side opposed unsealing documents to "clarify necessity for … restricting the dissemination of information concerning this case," but prosecutors want to remove references to Awana.

Seabright has not indicated when he would rule.

"Victims are afforded rights in our judicial system," he wrote in his order Monday. "Nonetheless, courts must ensure that any Protective Order is not broader than necessary under the particular circumstances."

The case started with an Internet love affair between Patkar and a woman in the Philippines named Julie Mae, Byrne said in court.

When Mae disappeared for several days, Patkar used his expertise as a Web developer working in Japan to hack into her e-mail and the e-mail of her friend, Jet Ebale, who was in a relationship with Awana.

That's when Patkar found out that Awana attempted to get Mae and Ebale to entertain Awana and his friends for a weekend in the Philippines during the trade mission, the attorney said.

Patkar blackmailed Awana in exchange for withholding the information that he said could ruin Awana professionally and personally.