US lawyers decry eavesdropping

US lawyers have expressed outrage at the decision to allow investigators to monitor communications between attorneys and their clients in prison, including those detained but not charged with any crime.Recently released rules allow eavesdropping whenever there is a 'reasonable suspicion' that an exchange of information may occur about future acts of terrorism.American Bar Association (ABA) president Robert Hirshon said he was 'deeply troubled' by the rules, saying they 'run squarely afoul' of the fourth and sixth amendments of the US constitution.The fourth amendment lays down prior judicial approval and the establishment of probable cause - rather than reasonable suspicion - as the standards required if government surveillance is to be legal.

The sixth amendment guarantees a right to counsel.While saying that the ABA understands the need to take all steps necessary to prevent terrorist acts, Mr Hirshon added: 'No privilege is more indelibly ensconced in the American legal system than the attorney-client privilege.'Laura Murphy, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's Washington national office, said the move set a 'terrifying precedent - it threatens to negate the keystone of our system of checks and balances, the right to a competent legal defence'.Steven Kimelman, a former deputy chief of the criminal division for the Eastern District of New York, said the rules are 'totally outrageous'.

Mr Kimelman, a partner at New York law firm Arent Fox Kintner Plotkin & Khan, explained: 'This eavesdropping rule will leave a dramatic imprint on the criminal defence system and truly sets aside total regard for the rights of those persons not even formally charged with a crime.'The Department of Justice has said that inmates' sixth amendment rights will be protected by establishment of a firewall in the department to prevent prosecutors getting their hands on privileged information.Speaking on CNN last week, Attorney-General John Ashcroft said the power was aimed at 13 prisoners suspected of seeking to continue criminal activity while they are in jail.Neil Rose