DIPLOMATIC SAFETY NET

What is diplomatic immunity and what do diplomats do?

THE wife of a US diplomat Anne Sacoolas was granted diplomatic immunity after she was involved in a hit and run crash which left a 19-year-old dead.

Anne claimed immunity on special circumstances. But how does the process work?

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This means ambassadors can commit any crime, including murder, and be immune from local law which includes being arrested, prosecuted or being forced to testify in court.

They can still be expelled from the country they are based in.

This immunity became contentious when unarmed PC Yvonne Fletcher, 25, died in April 1984 after shots were fired from inside the Libyan Embassy in London at an anti-Gaddafi protest outside.

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currently based at the British High Commission in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, has also worked in Iraq and Uganda, mingled with British royalty, dined with Hollywood stars and flew to war-torn Basra in Iraq in a Chinook military helicopter.

He said: "A typical day could involve lobbying on the UN security council resolution on Syria, for example, or it could involve working on a visit for a member of the royal family. It's an incredibly varied workload."

Spies are well known to operate in foreign countries under the cover of working as a "diplomat".

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