High-profile Norwegian attorney John Christian Elden believes the US National Security Agency (NSA) has been spying on private email correspondence between him and a client charged with acts of terrorism, TV2 reported on Tuesday.

Elden told TV2 that he had used his private Facebook account to communicate with the client, a Norwegian-Chilean man who has been charged with publishing a video that threatens members of Norway’s government and royal family. Elden claims that his client’s private Facebook messages were deleted immediately, leaving only an error message in his log.

He also told TV2 that the US Department of Homeland Security had revoked his visa to the US, following his communication with his client Arfan Bhatti in Pakistan and another Norwegian client in Syria before both men went missing earlier this year.

Facebook is among the websites mentioned in recent revelations by the Washington Post and the Guardian of questionable surveillance activities by the NSA.

Newspaper Aftenposten reported that Justice Minister Grete Faremo has contacted US authorities, requesting a clarification of whether Norwegian citizens have been under surveillance.

newsinenglish.no staff