from NL Times
Intelligence and security service AIVD unjustly spied on communications between lawyers and clients 13 times between February 2014 and March 2015, according to the annual report by the CTIVD, the committee responsible for supervising the Dutch intelligence and security services, RTL Nieuws reports.
In July last year a court in The Hague ruled that the AIVD must stop eavesdropping on confidential conversations between lawyers and their clients if there is no direct danger to national security. The AIVD did not meet these requirements in 13 of its eavesdropping cases.
AIVD office in Zoetermeer
The AIVD also spied on detailed discussions related to an individuals sex life in one investigation. In another investigation the security service eavesdropped on a non-target in order to approach the person with foreknowledge. The CTIVD found both incidents unjustified and unlawful.
Due to an “intensification of investigations” into jihadists leaving to or returning from the conflict area in Syria and Iraq, the AIVD spied on 19 percent more communications in this period than in the period before, the CTIVD writes. The exact number of taps is unknown. Home Affairs Minister Ronald Plasterk wants to keep this number secret because it would reveal too much on the AIVD’s process. The CTIVD feels differently about the matter, writing in its report that the disclosure of tapping statistics is not a threat to national security.