Human rights security

British spies could be forced to disclose deepest secrets in legal challenge

A legal challenge brought against British intelligence services aims to shed light on the nature of their most secretive operations.

Civil rights groups Reprieve and Privacy International want to make public the allegedly highly intrusive activities of the UK’s security agencies by bringing a case before the Investigatory Powers Tribunal.

The tribunal is responsible for overseeing the activities of the UK’s intelligence agencies, including MI5, MI6 and GCHQ.

The legal action is concerned with the set of “directions” issued by then-Prime Minister David Cameron, enabling the Intelligence Services Commissioner to supervise highly invasive and covert intelligence activities.

Two of these directions were subsequently released to the public with certain redactions.

One document governed interrogation of detainees abroad by UK intelligence personnel, while the other regulated the extensive collection of personal data by British spooks.

The third direction was only once referred to in public in a separate legal challenge brought by Privacy International, but was redacted in its entirety.