Canada's spy agency is taping conversations between men held as terrorism suspects and their defence lawyers, according to a Federal Court Judge, who suggests state agents cease such wiretaps and delete the tapes. Madame Justice Carolyn Layden-Stevenson's written summary of secret evidence released Thursday left defence lawyers saying they were "apoplectic" with rage that hundreds of their conversations had been snooped on, and that one of the most basic and fundamental legal protections, solicitor-client privilege, is being flouted by the government. Reviewing the case of an Egyptian living under house arrest because he once ran a farming operation for Osama bin Laden, Judge Layden-Stevenson released a summary of secret testimony given by a Canadian Security Intelligence Service agent. The testimony revealed just how CSIS is helping another federal agency keep tabs on the security-certificate detainee, Mohammad Zeki Mahjoub. "The CSIS analyst listens to all intercepted communications, including solicitor-client communications, if any, to the extent of being satisfied that the communication does not involve a potential breach of the terms of release of a threat to national-security," the judge's summary reads.

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