Germany 'spying on own citizens abroad'

Iran Press TV

Sat Nov 29, 2014 5:46PM GMT

Lawmakers in Germany are investigating a legal loophole that allows the country's foreign intelligence service, the BND, to spy on German citizens abroad.

The loophole was uncovered as German parliamentarians were probing the surveillance activities of the US National Security Agency (NSA), the Associated Press (AP) reported on Saturday.

The German government confirmed to the AP that phone and e-mail communications by German nationals working for foreign companies can be intercepted by the BND.

The BND conducts the practice despite being legally prohibited from spying on German nationals and companies.

This comes as Stefan Burbaum, a former lawyer for the BND, told the Bundestag inquiry committee into NSA mass spying earlier this week that the Germans employed by foreign companies have no protection against espionage by the BND while working abroad.

The parliamentary NSA inquiry was launched earlier this year in the wake of revelations by US whistleblower Edward Snowden in 2013 about US and UK spy agencies' surveillance programs.

Leaked documents released in October last year revealed that the NSA had been tapping German Chancellor Angela Merkel's phone, which provoked outrage in Germany.

CAH/HJL/SS