Lawyers urge bugging guarantees

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The Law Society is calling for clearer legislation to guarantee that conversations between lawyers and their clients are not bugged by police.

Law Society President Andrew Holroyd said current regulations are both complex and confusing.

The issue has been highlighted by the revelation that a Labour MP, Sadiq Khan, was secretly recorded.

Mr Khan's conversations were recorded during two prison visits to a constituent who is a terrorism suspect.

Mr Holroyd told BBC Radio 4 that the existing "code of guidance" that offers the protection of lawyer-client privilege must be enshrined in legislation.

"The legal professional privilege is more than an ordinary rule of evidence, it is actually a fundamental condition on which the administration of justice as a whole rests.

"I think it's very important that legal privilege is protected in legislation and not just in the code of guidance."

Bugging denied

While conversations between clients and his lawyers cannot be used as evidence against them, lawyers have expressed worry that their telephone conversations with jailed clients are routinely monitored - a charge the Prison Officers Association has denied.

The bugging of Mr Khan, the MP for Tooting in south London, happened while he was visiting consistent Baba Ahmad - wanted in the US on suspicion of running websites raising funds for the Taleban.

Mr Khan has been campaigning for his release.

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith told the House of Commons that she had ordered a review of current codes of practice to make clear that any conversation between MPs and their constituents should be classed as confidential.