The US has been spying on human rights activists, according to NSA superleaker Edward Snowden.
He made the claims whilst giving evidence to the Council of Europe, Europe�s top human rights watchdog, in Strasbourg, France.
Edward Snowden made his statement via video link from a secret location in the Russian capital of Moscow.
�Human rights can only be protected if we insure that our laws have a clear meaning and the meaning of the words in those laws cannot be secretly interpreted by any legal body or intelligence agency without the public�s knowledge and consent,� said Snowden.
One of the politicians sitting on the panel said Snowden�s latest revelations � if proved true � were very worrying indeed.
�There was a special program for human rights organisations. well the US is always saying they want to be good with human rights, they want to protect human rights defenders � but if they have a special program to eavesdrop on Amnesty International or at the UN Children�s Fund � than there might be a potential problem,� said Pieter Omtzigt, a Dutch Christian Democrat MP.
The White House declined an invitation to give evidence.
It is still to comment on Snowden�s latest claims.