UK intelligence may have eavesdropped for years on lawyer-client communications, documents show
As in the U.S., confidential communications between lawyers and clients in the United Kingdom are supposed to be protected by privilege against discovery by the government and others.
However, documents were recently made public that show another standard applied to some government agencies. The release of the documents came in the latest chapter of a British court battle over two men allegedly kidnapped and sent to Libya a decade ago as part of a joint rendition effort by U.K. and U.S. intelligence.
At least until recently, no policy existed at the MI5, MI6 and GCHQ intelligence agencies against intercepting privileged communications or sharing them with opponents of the lawyers and clients concerned, according to the Belfast Telegraph and the Independent.
The BBC News also has a story, which explains the interlocking roles of MI5, MI6 and GCHQ.
“It’s now clear the intelligence agencies have been eavesdropping on lawyer-client conversations for years,” said attorney Cori Crider of Reprieve, a legal charity which is involved in bringing the case. “The question now is not whether, but how much they have rigged the game in their favor in the ongoing court case over torture.”
Crider also said the eavesdropping “raises troubling implications for the whole British justice system. In how many cases has the government eavesdropped to give itself an unfair advantage in court?”
At this point, two separate cases concern the claimed 2004 rendition to Libya and torture of Abdel Hakim Belhaj. The U.K. Court of Appeal held last week that he can sue the government over his rendition. (The other man involved, Sami al-Saadi, accepted a settlement worth about $3.5 million, in U.S. dollars, from the British government in 2012.) Meanwhile, documents that show British intelligence standards allowed privileged lawyer-client communications including conversations, phone calls and emails to be intercepted were made public under a separate case in the Investigatory Powers Tribunal. It is responsible for pursuing complaints about undercover methods used by government agencies.
The news articles don’t include any comment from U.K. officials, although the Telegraph discusses concerns expressed by lawmakers at Parliament’s House of Commons. The BBC News reports that a government spokesman says it does not discuss ongoing litigation.
Related material:
The Guardian: “GCHQ accused of monitoring privileged emails between lawyers and clients”
The Guardian: “Edited spy policy papers released in Libyan rendition case “
Reprieve: “Abdel Hakim Belhadj’s case history”
Reprieve: “Sami al Saadi’s case history”
