The British government has admitted that the regime under
which UK intelligence agencies, including MI-5 and MI-6, have been monitoring
conversations between lawyers and their clients for the past five years is
unlawful. It follows the British court ruling on 6 February declaring that the
regime associated with the sharing of mass personal intelligence data between America’s
national security agency and the British GCHQ (The Government Communication’s
Headquarters) was unlawful for seven years. The admission that the activities
of the security services have failed to comply with human rights laws as well
as with the European convention on human right comes in advance of a legal challenge
in which the security services are alleged to have unlawfully intercepted
conversations between lawyers and their clients in order to five the advantage
to the government in court. The case is due to be heard before the
Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT) and is being brought by lawyers on behalf
of two Libyans who were tortured by Muammar Gaddafi’s regime after being abducted
in a joint MI-6-CIA operation in 2004. A government spokesman said that
intelligence agencies would work with the interception of communications commissioner
guarantee that their policies satisfy all of the UK’s human rights obligations.
Exchanges between lawyers and their clients are specially protected under UK
law. To show that its policies satisfy legal safeguards, MI6 were required to
disclose internal guidance on how intelligence staff should deal with material
protected by legal professional privilege.
It’s interesting that the government is so often accused of
breaking the law, and this is just a great example of them being caught doing
so. The government should not be able to get away with violating human rights
in order to give themselves the advantage. Everyone has rights and their
privacy should be respected by everyone, including the government.
Bethany Shaffer
2/19/2015
9:12 pm
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