"Absolutely. I read some of the transcripts of the accounts of his (Annan's) conversations," Short (AFP)

LONDON, February 26 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – In the run-up to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, the British intelligence bugged the office of U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan and spied on his conversations, a former British minister revealed Thursday, February 26.

In an interview on BBC Radio 4's Today program, ex-international development secretary Clare Short said London "was also getting spies on Kofi Annan's office and getting reports from him about what was going on."

On whether British spies were active within the U.N. on people like Annan, Short replied: "Absolutely. I read some of the transcripts of the accounts of his conversations.

"These things are done and in the case of Kofi's office, it was being done for some time.

"In fact, I have had conversations with Kofi in the run up to the war thinking 'oh dear, there will be a transcript of this and people will see what he and I are saying'."

Short, one of the longest-serving members of Prime Minister Tony Blair's government, quit as secretary for international development in May 2003 in protest over the Iraq war.

Tarnished Reputation

The BBC News Online quoted Hassen Fodha, the U.N. director in Brussels, as saying spying on Annan is "illegal".

"The U.N. works in full transparency. There is no need to spy or to go through secret channels.

"Our information is public and under our rules no other information than is public should be used in our reports."

Sir Menzies Campbell, the Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman, stressed that if the charges "are true, they will do nothing for Britain's already tarnished reputation at the U.N."

A former MI5 officer cautioned this might undermine confidence between Britain and its allies.

"Certainly you can invade the privacy of people suspected of carrying out terrorism and crime, but can you really justify invading the privacy of somebody who is involved in diplomacy?" David Shayler told BBC News 24.

Within Law

Reacting to the charge, Blair said Britain's intelligence services always act fully within the law, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

"We and previous governments have never commented on intelligence, except to say that this country always acts in accordance with domestic and international law," Blair told a press conference at Downing Street.

He said that he has "huge respect" for Annan.

"I think the fact that those allegations were made I think is deeply irresponsible," Blair added.

Case Dropped

The new controversy came one day after British prosecutors dropped a case against Katharine Gun, a British intelligence translator, who had leaked a U.S. intelligence memo requesting Britain's help in spying on non-aligned U.N. Security Council members.

The top-secret memo was sent in January 2003, when Britain and the U.S. were trying to muscle out a U.N. mandate to invade Iraq.

Angola, Bulgaria, Cameroon, Chile, Guinea and Pakistan were the U.N. Security Council members named in the memo from the U.N. National Security Agency as targets of the eavesdropping effort.

Prosecutors said they were dropping their case against Gun because they felt they did not have enough evidence to secure a conviction.

But Gun's lawyers speculated that the real reason was because a trial would have forced the government to reveal details of Attorney General Lord Peter Goldsmith's advice about the legality of the Iraq war.