SCOTLAND Yard's anti-terrorist police secretly bugged a leading Muslim Labour MP during private meetings with one of his constituents, it was claimed last night.
The Ministry of Justice confirmed it was investigating the allegation that Sadiq Khan, who is now a government whip, was recorded by a device hidden in a table while he visited a constituent in prison who is facing extradition for terror-related offe
nces.
It also emerged last night that officers initially had misgivings about bugging a parliamentarian – which is in breach of a government edict banning eavesdropping on politicians – but that they went ahead with the surveillance operation anyway.
Justice Secretary Jack Straw has ordered an immediate inquiry as a leading Muslim MP said that the Islamic community in the UK would be dismayed and in fear as a result of the incident.
According to a newspaper report, the Metropolitan Police's anti-terrorist squad used a hidden electronic listening device to record two conversations that Khan had in 2005 and 2006 with Babar Ahmad, a constituent who is facing deportation to the United States.
The US government has accused Ahmad of running a website that allegedly raised funds for Taliban and Chechen terrorists in the late Nineties. Ahmad faces no charges in Britain, but is wanted in the United States, where his website is registered.
Scotland Yard secretly recorded both his conversations with Khan at the Woodhill prison in Milton Keynes. Ahmad was campaigning against his extradition.
Mohammad Sarwar, the MP for Glasgow Central and the UK's first Muslim parliamentarian, reacted angrily to news of the bugging.
"I am saddened, I am shocked and I am angry. I am deeply dismayed. And the view among many Muslims will be that if the authorities are bugging a senior MP, then who else are they bugging? Muslims feel afraid, marginalised and very nervous, and incidents like this do nothing to help. There needs to be a proper inquiry. It needs to be swift. And it must ensure that nothing like this will happen again."
Sarwar added: "In my view this is very, very wrong, Conversations between an MP, any MP, whether Muslim or any other faith, and a constituent are confidential and they should remain that way."
Khan is a lawyer and a rising star in Gordon Brown's government and has taken a high profile in attempts to help his party win the support of Britain's Muslims. He is also a former chairman of human rights group Liberty, and he once served as a legal adviser to the Muslim Council of Britain.
Khalid Mahmood, MP for Birmingham Perry Barr, said: "I don't think for a minute Sadiq Khan would do anything not in the interests of this country. He is a member of this country, of Parliament and is a whip and what has happened is highly questionable.
"It's very regrettable. If he felt there was an issue of national interest Mr Khan himself would have made police aware. It is the wrong way for police to act."
Thurrock MP Andrew McKinlay said the bugging of MPs by police has been barred since eavesdropping scandals during Harold Wilson's governments.
He said: "It is wholly unacceptable for MPs to be under surveillance."
Khan was reportedly "outraged" over the bugging allegations and said he discussed sensitive personal and legal matters during the recorded meeting. "This is an infringement of a citizen's right to have a private meeting with his MP," he said.
Justice Secretary Jack Straw said he had ordered an immediate internal inquiry. "Though I have no knowledge of the facts in this case, it is completely unacceptable for an interview conducted by an MP on a constituency matter – or on any other issue – to be recorded," he said.
A spokesman for Scotland Yard said it was "not prepared to discuss" the allegations.
The full article contains 642 words and appears in Scotland On Sunday newspaper.
