In the James Bond films, 00 indicates the license to kill given by London to the most beloved secret agent in the world. And now, as in the novels of Ian Fleming, which inspired the longest running film series in the history of cinema, which has grown to 25 films from 1962 to today, in the United Kingdom agents could really be given the double zero, or maybe just one, with the license if not to kill, but at least to freely violate the rules without having to fear any consequences.
A bill has been filed in the Westminster Parliament which states that in the future MI5 (British secret services), the police and other security agencies will be able to explicitly authorize their undercover agents but also informants to commit crimes. if these will be deemed necessary for a specific operation. The government has assured that this does not mean that homicides or torture will be authorized, but several associations and deputies ask that this be clearly stated in the text. “Our intelligence agencies do a vital job of keeping this country safe, but there must be common sense limits on the activities of their agents, and we hope the MPs will ensure that these limits are written into the legislation,” Maya Foa asked. director of Reprieve, an association of lawyers and human rights defenders.
The legislation does not explicitly exclude any crime but states that agents must not violate the European Convention on Human Rights, which requires the government to protect life, and stresses that the crime committed must be “necessary and proportionate”.
In fact, MI5 has always authorized its officers and informants to participate in criminal activities if this serves to maintain their coverage, but last year the country’s court issued a ruling in which it clarified that what the secret services they had hitherto had “implicit” power to authorize the crimes, but that did not mean that anyone involved in one of these crimes was immune from prosecution. Hence the need to intervene from a legislative point of view. For James Brokenshire, the Minister of Security, violating certain laws is a “crucial ability” for secret agents and therefore it is “important that those who have a responsibility to protect citizens can continue to do so knowing they are protected by solid legal basis “. Ken McCallum, the new director general of MI5, said undercover agents have played a vital role in stopping many of the 27 terrorist plots that have been uncovered over the past three years in the country, including the plan to kill the then premier Theresa May in 2018.
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