Summary: In March 2007 HMS Cornwall was deployed in the Northern Persian Gulf charged with maintaining the sovereignty and integrity of Iraqi territorial waters under UN Security Council Resolution 1723. Two of HMS Cornwall-™s seaboats, whilst conducting a routine search of a merchant vessel, were captured by the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard. The Iranian government subsequently announced that the 15 personnel on the seaboats had been captured because they had been in Iranian territorial waters. The British government maintained that the two seaboats remained in Iraqi territorial waters. The complainant requested a copy of information that had been exchanged by a data link between one of the seaboats and HMS Cornwall on the day of the capture. The public authority refused to provide the information citing section 26(1)(b) of the Act. The Commissioner has concluded that the public authority was entitled to refuse to disclose the requested information on the basis of this exemption.
Section of Act/EIR & Finding: FOI 26 - Complaint Not upheld