A tribunal found on Monday that British intelligence agency Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) spied on two international human rights organizations illegally.
The Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT) found GCHQ guilty of keeping emails of South African Legal Resources Centre (LRC) and the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) for longer than the legally permissible time limit and violating its own internal procedures.
IPT is a judicial tribunal which oversees the UK's intelligence services.
The tribunal, however, ruled that the initial interception of emails was not unlawful. It is the first time that a court has found that British intelligence agencies have spied on foreign NGOs.
"[We are] concerned that steps should be taken to ensure that neither of the breaches of procedure referred to in this determination occurs again. For the avoidance of doubt, the tribunal makes it clear that it will be making a closed report to the prime minister," the IPT judgement said, according to the Guardian.
The South African and Egyptian organizations are co-claimants alongside others including Liberty, Amnesty International and Privacy International in proceedings brought against GCHQ.
"If spying on human rights NGOs isn't off-limits for GCHQ, then what is? Clearly our spy agencies have lost their way. For too long they've been trusted with too much power, and too few rules for them to protect against abuse. How many more problems with GCHQ's secret procedures have to be revealed for them to be brought under control?" Eric King, deputy director of privacy international, said in a press release.
Welcoming the ruling, legal director for Liberty James Welch said: "Last year it was revealed that GCHQ were eavesdropping on sacrosanct lawyer-client conversations. Now we learn they've been spying on human rights groups. What kind of signal are British authorities sending to despotic regimes and those who risk their lives to challenge them all over the world? Who is being casual with human life now?" according to a press release.
A British government spokesperson ruled out any possibility of compensating NGOs, saying that the GCHQ breaches are not sufficiently serious to warrant any compensation to be paid to NGOs, reported BBC.
"GCHQ takes any error of procedure very seriously. It is working to rectify the technical errors identified by this case and is taking steps to continuously improve its processes in future," a spokesperson said.
