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UK Admits to Unlawful Surveillance of Torture Victims
Published on
Thursday, February 19, 2015
byCommon Dreams
Intelligence agencies violated human rights laws by spying on privileged legal communications
byNadia Prupis, staff writer
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Abdelhakim Belhadj accused the U.K. government of being complicit in his rendition and torture from 2004 to 2010. (Photo: Reuters)
In a landmark admission, the U.K. government conceded on Wednesday that British intelligence agencies have been illegally spying on private communications between lawyers and clients for the past five years.
According to the Guardian, the government's admission that it violated human rights law is "a severe embarrassment."
"In view of recent IPT judgments, we acknowledge that the policies adopted since [January] 2010 have not fully met the requirements of the ECHR, specifically article 8 (right to privacy)," a government spokesperson stated on Wednesday. "This includes a requirement that safeguards are made sufficiently public."
The announcement follows several recent legal developments in the high-profile torture case of Libyan political activist Abdelhakim Belhadj, one of the surveillance targets.
According to the Guardian, the government's admission that it violated human rights law is "a severe embarrassment."
"In view of recent IPT judgments, we acknowledge that the policies adopted since [January] 2010 have not fully met the requirements of the ECHR, specifically article 8 (right to privacy)," a government spokesperson stated on Wednesday. "This includes a requirement that safeguards are made sufficiently public."
The announcement follows several recent legal developments in the high-profile torture case of Libyan political activist Abdelhakim Belhadj, one of the surveillance targets.
Full article: http://www.commondreams.org/news/2015/02/19/uk-admits-unlawful-surveillance-torture-victims
