Ministers and spies will be granted immunity against charges of aiding and abetting crimes under a new national security law to be debated by lawmakers next week, a human rights charity and a former Tory cabinet minister have warned.
The Home Office was told the powers offered were “too weak” and would reduce the UK’s moral authority to condemn atrocities such as the assassination of Saudi journalist Jamal Hashoghi.
Concerns focus on the change in the Serious Crimes Act, which was passed in 2007 and made it a crime to do anything in the UK to encourage or aid crime abroad – such as aiding and abetting or sending information, to be used in torture.
According to a clause in the National Security Bill, which is in second reading in the House of Commons on Monday, this will not apply when it is “necessary for the proper exercise of any function” of MI5, MI6, GCHQ or the armed forces.
Reprieve, an international human rights charity, said it would effectively grant immunity to ministers or officials who provide information to foreign partners that leads to torture or illegal killing in a drone strike.
Concerns were also expressed that the move would limit victims’ ability to seek civil damages in court.
Maya Foa, Reprieve’s co-executive director, said it was unthinkable to empower ministers and officials who would “risk putting them above ordinary criminal law” and could even encourage leaders to “commit serious crimes by thinking that they can do so effectively with impunity. “
Foa said the passage of Clause 23 of the National Security Bill would “destroy the UK’s moral legitimacy to condemn such atrocities by autocracies” following the assassination of Kashoggi, a journalist believed by US intelligence to be assassinated on Saudi orders. ruler Mohammed bin Salman.
The campaign against the move was also backed by former cabinet minister and civil liberties activist David Davis.
Davis said Clause 23 was “too weak in the powers it gives ministers” and was not to give spy agencies less contentious powers of national security, such as allowing them to make mistakes in foreign embassies.
He added: “This bill has been drafted so freely that it could free ministers from the hook if they allow crimes such as murder and torture from the safety of their Whitehall offices.
“I urge colleagues to limit it to actions appropriate to our goals and civilized standards.”
The National Security Bill was announced in the Queen’s speech last month with the intention of supporting British spy agencies and “helping them defend the United Kingdom”. It will be discussed when lawmakers return from vacation next Monday.
A spokesman for the Interior Ministry said: “The amendment to the Serious Crimes Act will eliminate the risk of individuals being prosecuted only when carrying out permitted legal activities deemed necessary, in good faith and following the proper procedure.
“Simply put, the government believes that it is not fair to expect that responsibility for this action will fall to a single UK intelligence officer or member of the armed forces who is acting with perfectly legitimate intentions.
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