Shami Chakrabarti was target in Damien Green police search

[T_i_B]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article6116023.ece

Police who arrested the Conservative frontbencher Damian Green trawled his private e-mails looking for information on Britain’s leading civil liberties campaigner. Officers from Scotland Yard’s antiterror squad searched the computer seized from his parliamentary office using the key words “Shami Chakrabarti” – even though the Liberty director had nothing to do with the leaking of Home Office documents that prompted the investigation.

In an interview with The Times, Mr Green warned that his arrest and the raids on his Commons office and homes smacked of a “police state”. The Tory immigration spokesman said that Ms Chakrabarti’s name had been one of the keywords used to go through e-mails and computer documents going back several years.

“This feels to me like a fishing expedition on somebody who embarrasses the government of the day,” he said. “That’s very disturbing.” The revelation will fuel claims that Mr Green’s arrest, and the police investigation into Home Office leaks, were politically motivated.

Ms Chakrabarti said she had never been approached by the police as part of their inquiry and was alarmed to learn that her name had been used as a key search word. “I think this raises very serious questions about just how politicised, even McCarthyite, this operation was,” she said.

[Frau Schmidt]

1. Police state

[Nihil]

2. Worrying

> “This feels to me like a fishing expedition on somebody who embarrasses
> the government of the day,” he said. “That’s very disturbing.”

"Very disturbing" is an understatement.

> The revelation will fuel claims that Mr Green’s arrest, and the police
> investigation into Home Office leaks, were politically motivated.

Gosh, that's thrown a new light on things hasn't it? :eyes:

Still, (glass half full here) at least they are talking about the obvious
now rather than just brushing it under the carpet.