MI6 May Have Let Spies Commit Crimes in UK: Tribunal
A UK intelligence services watchdog tribunal heard on Wednesday that MI6 may have authorised spies to commit crimes in the UK, possibly without any limits on their extent.
According to campaigners, the Investigatory Powers Tribunal found that the UK’s foreign intelligence secret service MI6 and GCHQ, its intelligence communications service, may have breached their remit by operating under a policy to break the law in the UK that the government had unjustifiably asked them to keep secret.
Justice organisation Reprieve confirmed in an email to The Epoch Times that the revelations emerged during an ongoing legal challenge mounted by civil liberties groups.
Spy chiefs may have illegally authorised British agents to commit serious crimes in the UK, a tribunal heard.
MI6 – the foreign intelligence service – is able to authorise spies it recruits overseas to commit crimes. But it cannot permit criminal operations by agents in the UK.
A ruling by the Investigatory Powers Tribunal said MI6 and GCHQ informants may have been allowed ‘to participate in criminal activity in the UK’, and raised the question of ‘whether that conduct was lawful’.
A ruling by the Investigatory Powers Tribunal said MI6 and GCHQ informants may have been allowed ‘to participate in criminal activity in the UK’. Pictured, GCHQ headquarters
The cost of courage: Australia must do more to protect whistleblowers
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Opinion
By Kieran Pender
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As we reach the end of 2020, four individuals – Bernard Collaery, Witness K, David McBride and Richard Boyle – are being prosecuted by our government. These whistleblowers spoke up in the public interest, and now face the very real prospect of jail time. If we want to live in a transparent, accountable democracy, that should trouble us all.
Collaery and Witness K revealed that Australia bugged Timor-Leste’s cabinet, to help our government in ripping off an impoverished neighbour during tense oil and gas negotiations. McBride blew the whistle on the alleged actions of Australian special forces in Afghanistan – conduct characterised as potential war crimes by the Inspector-General. Boyle called out aggressive debt recovery practices by the Australian Taxation Of
MI6 failed to make clear to the Foreign Secretary that one of its spies overseas had gone rogue and engaged in serious criminal activity, a new report by Britain’s intelligence watchdog has revealed.
The intelligence agency had been asking for renewed authorisation of the agent’s activities without being clear about the agent’s behaviour, the Investigatory Powers Commissioner’s Office (IPCO) latest annual report says.
IPCO has censured MI6, or the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), for a range of shortcomings in its handling of its agents in the report, saying the Government “ought carefully to consider” if tighter oversight is needed over the operation of Britain’s spies abroad.
MI6 failed to make clear to the Foreign Secretary that one of its spies overseas had gone rogue and engaged in serious criminal activity, a new report by Britain’s intelligence watchdog has revealed.
The intelligence agency had been asking for renewed authorisation of the agent’s activities without being clear about the agent’s behaviour, the Investigatory Powers Commissioner’s Office (IPCO) latest annual report says.
IPCO has censured MI6, or the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), for a range of shortcomings in its handling of its agents in the report, saying the Government “ought carefully to consider” if tighter oversight is needed over the operation of Britain’s spies abroad.