British Muslim MP Bugged
Scotland Yard has illegally bugged British Muslim Labour MP Sidiq Khan during his meetings with one of his constituents in prison, The Sunday Times has revealed.
"From what you have told me, this is an infringement of a citizen’s right to have a private meeting with his MP," Khan told the paper on Sunday, February 3, when briefed on the eavesdropping.
The bugging was carried out by Scotland Yard's anti-terrorist squad during visits by Khan to the Milton Keynes jail in 2005 and 2006 to meet Babar Ahmad in his capacity as a lawmaker for the inmate's Tooting constituency.
During the conversation, Khan discussed the latest developments in the campaign against the extradition of Ahmad to the US, which accuses him of running a US-registered website that raised funds for Taliban and Chechen fighters in the late 1990s.
The discussions were recorded by an electronic listening device hidden in a table.
The bugging is illegal and breaches a law that protects politicians from eavesdropping by security services since a controversy more than 40 years ago.
Khan is a rising star in the Labour party and is seen as a key figure in Gordon Brown’s drive to win the hearts and minds of Britain’s Muslims, estimated at some two million.
He was promoted to assistant government whip in the Ministry of Justice, which is ironically responsible for prisons.
Outrage
"It is an affront to democracy and has all the hallmarks of a totalitarian regime," Mackinlay said.
The disclosure drew resentment from Khan's fellow MPs.
"The bugging of Sadiq Khan is very dangerous indeed," said Labour MP Andrew Mackinlay.
"It is totally unacceptable that MPs’ conversations with constituents are bugged by the security services or the police," he added.
"It is an affront to democracy and has all the hallmarks of a totalitarian regime. No one is suggesting that MPs should be above the law, but when behaving as MPs and dealing with people’s liberty that must be sacrosanct as it is with lawyers."
Khalid Mahmood, another Labour Muslim MP, said the incident sent out a difficult message, not just for Muslim people but for all Britons.
"It's very regrettable. This member of Parliament deserves the respect which he has been given by his constituents," he said.
"If he felt there was an issue of national interest Khan himself would have made police aware. It is the wrong way for police to act."
The disclosure means more bad news for embattled Metropolitan Police Chief Sir Ian Blair, who will be asked to explain why his officers breached government rules and if he authorized it.
Justice Secretary Jack Straw has ordered an immediate inquiry into the incident.
"It is completely unacceptable for an interview to be conducted by a MP on a constituent matter or in any other issue to be recorded."
Britain is in danger of becoming a "surveillance state" as authorities launch bugging operations against 1,000 people a day, according to an official report disclosed last week by The Daily Telegraph.
The report, by the Interception of Communications Commissioner, showed that councils, police and intelligence services are tapping and intercepting the phone calls, emails and letters of hundreds of thousands of people.
In many cases, the phones of innocent people were tapped simply because of administrative errors.
A 2006 report by the government's privacy watchdog showed that there were 4.2 million CCTV cameras spreading across Britain with each Briton being captured about 300 times a day on camera.
News papers
The bugging was carried out by Scotland Yard's anti-terrorist squad during visits by Khan to the Milton Keynes jail in 2005 and 2006 to meet Babar Ahmad in his capacity as a lawmaker for the inmate's Tooting constituency.
During the conversation, Khan discussed the latest developments in the campaign against the extradition of Ahmad to the US, which accuses him of running a US-registered website that raised funds for Taliban and Chechen fighters in the late 1990s.
The discussions were recorded by an electronic listening device hidden in a table.
The bugging is illegal and breaches a law that protects politicians from eavesdropping by security services since a controversy more than 40 years ago.
Khan is a rising star in the Labour party and is seen as a key figure in Gordon Brown’s drive to win the hearts and minds of Britain’s Muslims, estimated at some two million.
He was promoted to assistant government whip in the Ministry of Justice, which is ironically responsible for prisons.
Outrage
"It is an affront to democracy and has all the hallmarks of a totalitarian regime," Mackinlay said.
The disclosure drew resentment from Khan's fellow MPs.
"The bugging of Sadiq Khan is very dangerous indeed," said Labour MP Andrew Mackinlay.
"It is totally unacceptable that MPs’ conversations with constituents are bugged by the security services or the police," he added.
"It is an affront to democracy and has all the hallmarks of a totalitarian regime. No one is suggesting that MPs should be above the law, but when behaving as MPs and dealing with people’s liberty that must be sacrosanct as it is with lawyers."
Khalid Mahmood, another Labour Muslim MP, said the incident sent out a difficult message, not just for Muslim people but for all Britons.
"It's very regrettable. This member of Parliament deserves the respect which he has been given by his constituents," he said.
"If he felt there was an issue of national interest Khan himself would have made police aware. It is the wrong way for police to act."
The disclosure means more bad news for embattled Metropolitan Police Chief Sir Ian Blair, who will be asked to explain why his officers breached government rules and if he authorized it.
Justice Secretary Jack Straw has ordered an immediate inquiry into the incident.
"It is completely unacceptable for an interview to be conducted by a MP on a constituent matter or in any other issue to be recorded."
Britain is in danger of becoming a "surveillance state" as authorities launch bugging operations against 1,000 people a day, according to an official report disclosed last week by The Daily Telegraph.
The report, by the Interception of Communications Commissioner, showed that councils, police and intelligence services are tapping and intercepting the phone calls, emails and letters of hundreds of thousands of people.
In many cases, the phones of innocent people were tapped simply because of administrative errors.
A 2006 report by the government's privacy watchdog showed that there were 4.2 million CCTV cameras spreading across Britain with each Briton being captured about 300 times a day on camera.
News papers
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