Security Service flatly denies recording lawyer-client meetings at the prisons

The Security Service on Tuesday denied monitoring or recording any conversations between lawyers and their clients at the prisons, insisting that it never attempted or intended doing so.

The service was responding to claims made by the Chamber of Advocates, which on Monday said it had sworn testimonies from two people claiming that the secret service had wiretapped multiple meeting rooms reserved for high-risk individuals at the prisons.  

The Security Service stressed that it respected professional privilege, a cornerstone of the administration of justice and the rule of law.

The service said it never recorded conversations protected by legal professional privilege between lawyers and their clients. It also never attempted, nor intended, to do so.

"In line with established procedures, meetings between lawyers and their clients were never targeted, monitored or recorded at any time," it said, adding that claims suggesting it interfered with such privileged communications were incorrect and unfounded.

The Chamber of Advocates had claimed a fundamental breach of legal professional privilege when the allegations first surfaced and filed a judicial protest calling for an investigation. The government and the security service had denied the claim in a counter-protest.