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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/3485440/Whistleblower-takes-Foreign-Office-to-employment-tribunal.html
Whistleblower takes Foreign Office to employment tribunal
Derek Pasquill has accused the Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) of unfair dismissal and victimisation.
Mr Pasquill, a 49-year-old diplomat, was suspended for 23 months from the FCO after passing documents to the Observer and New Statesman relating to Government policy in the wake of the 2005 London bombings.
The papers were said to refer to secret CIA flights and the UK's contact with Muslim groups.
Mr Pasquill, from Notting Hill, West London, who worked for the FCO for 24 years, was acquitted in January of six charges of making disclosures damaging to international relations under section 3 of the Official Secrets Act 1989.
His trial collapsed after evidence emerged that the leaks, about the Government's involvement with radical Islamists, were not considered damaging.
They involved information about policy on two radical groups, and indicated worries in the Foreign Office about the radicalising effect of the war in Iraq on young Britons and the true extent of knowledge on "extraordinary rendition" of terror suspects through Britain by the US.
The leaks were published in a series of articles in The Observer and New Statesman between August 2005 and February 2006.
Prosecutors claimed that Mr Pasquill, a desk officer at the FCO, committed "a significant breach of trust" by leaking "numerous documents of a harmful nature, containing material which would affect the UK's international relations".
But in a climbdown, the prosecution at his trial offered no evidence after senior Foreign Office officials supported Mr Pasquill's defence that the leaks were not damaging.
The collapse of the trial was seen as a victory for the freedom of the press and Mr Pasquill said his acquittal vindicated his actions "exposing dangerous government policy and its changing priorities".
He was dismissed for gross misconduct on August 21 this year, but has now lodged a claim against the FCO.
His solicitor, Shah Qureshi, said: "Derek Pasquill feels that he has been backed into a corner by the FCO's belligerent stance. He made his disclosures in good faith with no benefit to himself.
"As a result, he has been subjected to criminal prosecution, stigmatisation and the loss of his livelihood for doing what he thought was 'the right thing'."
A spokesman for the FCO said it would not comment on any legal action.
It has 21 days to respond to Mr Pasquill's claims.
Whistleblower takes Foreign Office to employment tribunal
Derek Pasquill has accused the Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) of unfair dismissal and victimisation.
Mr Pasquill, a 49-year-old diplomat, was suspended for 23 months from the FCO after passing documents to the Observer and New Statesman relating to Government policy in the wake of the 2005 London bombings.
The papers were said to refer to secret CIA flights and the UK's contact with Muslim groups.
Mr Pasquill, from Notting Hill, West London, who worked for the FCO for 24 years, was acquitted in January of six charges of making disclosures damaging to international relations under section 3 of the Official Secrets Act 1989.
His trial collapsed after evidence emerged that the leaks, about the Government's involvement with radical Islamists, were not considered damaging.
They involved information about policy on two radical groups, and indicated worries in the Foreign Office about the radicalising effect of the war in Iraq on young Britons and the true extent of knowledge on "extraordinary rendition" of terror suspects through Britain by the US.
The leaks were published in a series of articles in The Observer and New Statesman between August 2005 and February 2006.
Prosecutors claimed that Mr Pasquill, a desk officer at the FCO, committed "a significant breach of trust" by leaking "numerous documents of a harmful nature, containing material which would affect the UK's international relations".
But in a climbdown, the prosecution at his trial offered no evidence after senior Foreign Office officials supported Mr Pasquill's defence that the leaks were not damaging.
The collapse of the trial was seen as a victory for the freedom of the press and Mr Pasquill said his acquittal vindicated his actions "exposing dangerous government policy and its changing priorities".
He was dismissed for gross misconduct on August 21 this year, but has now lodged a claim against the FCO.
His solicitor, Shah Qureshi, said: "Derek Pasquill feels that he has been backed into a corner by the FCO's belligerent stance. He made his disclosures in good faith with no benefit to himself.
"As a result, he has been subjected to criminal prosecution, stigmatisation and the loss of his livelihood for doing what he thought was 'the right thing'."
A spokesman for the FCO said it would not comment on any legal action.
It has 21 days to respond to Mr Pasquill's claims.
