Originally Posted by
travelfan199
No, not necessarily.
The whole thing smells bad. I saw the docu when it originally aired and have looked at some of the Hansard on it and there were inconsistencies. You might say that's inevitable with a war situation, I don't know. What I do know is that the passengers and crew deserve more consideration from the government. 20 years on, it's time people got answers and closure.
Well if the old rules were in place they'd only have another ten years before the 30 years were up but even then I suspect that it would be deemed likely to cause damage to the country's image, national security or foreign relations and withheld as a result.
The current FOI Act could be used but again section 23 Information relating to or dealing with security matters could just be used as an absolute exemption.
If not an absolute exemption then sections:
26 Where the info could prejudice defence or the capability, effectiveness or security of any relevant forces
27 Where the info could prejudice international relations
28 Where the info could prejudice relations between any administration in the United Kingdom and any other such administration.
could be used as the basis for an exemption.