article_snippet.sent: GCHQ, the Government’s listening post, unlawfully intercepted telephone calls and emails from Sami al-Saadi – even though the legally-privileged material was protected by strict rules.
article_snippet.sent: The Government’s listening post unlawfully intercepted telephone calls and emails from Sami al-Saadi, Government Communication Headquarters (GCHQ) in Cheltenham has been ruled .
article_snippet.sent: Intelligence chiefs sparked fury in February by admitting that Intelligence chiefs had unlawfully listened in to lawyer-client communications even though Intelligence chiefs are generally covered by 'legal professional privilege' to protect privacy and the right to a free trial.
article_snippet.sent: Last night Mr al-Saadi said: ‘I had always been told I had a right to communicate with my lawyers about this torture case in private, but that clearly wasn’t this torture case in private.
article_snippet.sent: This was illegal behaviour
article_snippet.sent: and I hope now that the right to take legal advice in private will never be ignored again.
article_snippet.sent: I am sure that the unlawful behaviour we have uncovered in this torture case in private is the tip of the iceberg.
article_snippet.sent: We are pleased that one man has finally beaten the security services in this secretive tribunal.
article_snippet.sent: But this kind of illegal snooping makes phone hacking look like child’s play, because it rigs the whole justice game in the government
article_snippet.sent: The IPT's ruling said that two documents involving al-Saadi ‘contained material subject to the legal professional privilege… held by GCHQ’.
article_snippet.sent: al-Saadi legal battle raises the extraordinary prospect of Mr Straw and Sir Mark Allen, a former senior MI6 spy, being hauled before the courts to give evidence.
article_snippet.sent: A the Government spokesman said: ‘the Government welcome the tribunal's confirmation today that the intelligence agencies did not seek or gain any advantage in legal proceedings and, in fact, held no information referring to any legal advice relating to the claimants.
highlights_snippet.sent: Sami al-Saadi's  communications with Sami al-Saadi's   lawyer were illegally intercepted .
  