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Australia ordered to cease spying on East Timor by International Court of Justice
Australia has been ordered to cease spying on East Timor and its legal advisers, in a landmark decision by the International Court of Justice relating to a bitter dispute between the two countries over $40 billion of oil and gas reserves in the Timor Sea.
The court also ruled that the Australian government must seal documents and data seized in an ASIO raid in December. The ICJ is the United Nations' top court, and its decisions are binding on members.
The decision is a major setback for Attorney-General George Brandis, who authorised the raid on East Timor's Australian lawyer Bernard Collaery, where about a dozen agents swooped on his office and took reams of material, including legal documents, electronic files and a statement by a former Australian Secret Intelligence Service agent alleging an eavesdropping operation on the tiny half island nation by Australia.
East Timor suspects the ASIO raid last year was only part of a massive espionage campaign against it by Australia as the impoverished nation seeks to have the treaty between the two countries over the Timor Sea reserves declared invalid by an international arbitration tribunal in the Hague because it was not negotiated in good faith.
<snip>
It is the first time that the court has imposed restrictions on the spy agencies of one of the so-called ''five eyes'' intelligence community of the US, Britain, Canada, New Zealand and Australia and comes at a time about widespread international concern about over-reach by Western intelligence agencies.
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/australia-ordered-to-cease-spying-on-east-timor-by-international-court-of-justice-20140304-hvfya.html#ixzz2vRb09JIj
The court also ruled that the Australian government must seal documents and data seized in an ASIO raid in December. The ICJ is the United Nations' top court, and its decisions are binding on members.
The decision is a major setback for Attorney-General George Brandis, who authorised the raid on East Timor's Australian lawyer Bernard Collaery, where about a dozen agents swooped on his office and took reams of material, including legal documents, electronic files and a statement by a former Australian Secret Intelligence Service agent alleging an eavesdropping operation on the tiny half island nation by Australia.
East Timor suspects the ASIO raid last year was only part of a massive espionage campaign against it by Australia as the impoverished nation seeks to have the treaty between the two countries over the Timor Sea reserves declared invalid by an international arbitration tribunal in the Hague because it was not negotiated in good faith.
<snip>
It is the first time that the court has imposed restrictions on the spy agencies of one of the so-called ''five eyes'' intelligence community of the US, Britain, Canada, New Zealand and Australia and comes at a time about widespread international concern about over-reach by Western intelligence agencies.
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/australia-ordered-to-cease-spying-on-east-timor-by-international-court-of-justice-20140304-hvfya.html#ixzz2vRb09JIj
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