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Germany high court rules intelligence may not be withheld from parliament

By Bernard Hibbitts (editor) and University of Pittsburgh School of Law students.

[JURIST] Germany's Federal Constitutional Court ruled Thursday that the German Federal Intelligence Service (BND) may not withhold information from parliament without good cause. The case began in 2006 when the BND refused to tell Germany's Green Party whether it was spying on members of parliament. Thursday's ruling requires that the government present a detailed explanation of its reasoning when it refuses to divulge information to parliament. Some members of parliament said they expect currently classified information to become declassified as a result of the the ruling. Intelligence services of a number of countries have come under government scrutiny in the past month. Earlier this month the Canadian Security Intelligence Service was criticized by Canada's Security Intelligence Review Committee for its role in interrogating a Guantanamo Bay detainee. Also this month, the UK Metropolitan Police Service announced it was looking into allegations that British intelligence officers mistreated former Guantanamo Bay detainee Binyam Mohamed. The United States House of Representatives Intelligence Committe announced earlier this month that it would open a formal investigation into a plan to assassinate al Qaeda members that the Central Intelligence Committee (CIA) failed to disclose to Congress.

Full post as published by JURIST - The Paper Chase on July 31, 2009 (boomark / email).