MI5 agents ‘free to commit any crime’

THERE are ‘ no limits’ to the crimes MI5 informants can commit, potentially including murder, kidnap and torture, the Court of Appeal was told.

Four human rights organisations are challenging a previously secret policy – in place since at least the 1990s – which allows MI5 to authorise its agents to participate in serious crimes in the UK.

The policy effectively granted immunity to agents and their handlers, said Privacy International, Reprieve, the Committee on the Administration of Justice and the Pat Finucane Centre. In their legal action against MI5, MI6, the government and GCHQ, they argued there was no lawful basis for the policy.

But in December 2019, the Investigatory Powers Tribunal decided by a 3-2 majority that MI5, also known as the Security Service, did have the power to authorise the commission of criminal offences by informants.

Opening the appeal yesterday, Ben Jaffey QC argued that the practical effect of the policy was to grant immunity from the criminal law because the crimes were authorised and conducted in secret, and withheld from the police and prosecutors.

He told the Court of Appeal in London there were ‘no limits to what crimes can be authorised, at least on the partial version of the policy that is currently public.’

Sir James Eadie QC, for the government, argued that it would be impossible for MI5 to fulfil its functions ‘without covert human intelligence sources, also known as agents’.

The hearing continues.