Hans-Christian Stroebele Demands British Secret Service Hands Over Materials From Embassy In Berlin

German Politician Demands British Secret Service Hands Over Material 'Gathered' At Embassy In Berlin

The British secret service has been asked to hand over information gathered on a leading German politician obtained via the UK embassy in Berlin.

Hans-Christian Stroebele, who has called for the UK to be held accountable for breaking EU laws in regards to surveillance, has demanded that the heads of Britain's spy networks hand over information gathered on him following a report in The Independent that the British Embassy in Berlin was part of a "secret listening post".

Hans-Christian Stroebele has demanded any files gathered on him

Reports published earlier this month suggested that GCHQ was using the roof of the embassy in Berlin for intercepts, possibly from the German parliament and Angela Merkel's office.

Stroebele, who has visited Edward Snowden in Moscow, said: "I wrote to MI5, MI6 and GCHQ this morning requesting officially that they disclose with me all information that they held on me personally, me as an example, because, I have to think that... there's reason to think that I'm being spied on as well, for example, through the spy station in the British embassy in Berlin."

The politician added: "This embassy is in sight of my offices, it's very close to my office. If there has been spying going on from the embassy directly then, obviously, I'm thinking I have been spied on as well. After the information I have received, it seems like not only from the British embassy in Berlin there's been spying activity going on but the information from this spying activity, as far as I understand, the information that came from the British embassy spying point as well as through the tapping of Merkel's phone was sent via an airbase here in the UK to the NSA in the US.

"We are of the opinion that that is an infringement of EU laws that the UK is allowing fibre optic cables in the south of England to be used in order to transfer this information from Germany to north America which is why we, the Green party, yesterday in the German parliament submitted a motion to the government that an infringement procedure of EU laws shall be initiated against the UK for their complicity in the spying scandal."

More from the Press Association:

Stroebele said he had come to London to forge links with parliamentarians following claims British intelligence services have "been involved in the spying scandal".

He insisted Snowden and his allies had ensured there was "no danger" to intelligence agents through the documents that were released. "Mr Snowden and all the people I know who helped him were meticulously interested in the fact that no names of the people who could be located were revealed in the documents," he added.

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