Allegations that Britain’s police and intelligence agencies spied on investigative journalists to identify sources will be heard in a secret court on Wednesday, with judges urged to hold the case in open court wherever possible.
Trevor Burney and Barry McCaffrey have asked the Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT) to investigate whether Northern Ireland and Durham police, MI5 and GCHQ used intrusive surveillance powers against them. .
The case has attracted attention among press freedom campaigners, but the arrests were made in 2018 after an award-winning investigation into apparent collusion between police and suspected murderers in the 1994 Roghini massacre. It was after making a documentary called “No Stone Unturned.” He was killed by a loyalist militia.
Northern Ireland’s highest court judge subsequently reprimanded the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) and Durham Constabulary for raiding the men, citing potential conflicts of interest within the PSNI, and ruled that the arrests were unlawful. It was decided that
The journalists then asked the IPT to investigate the secret surveillance carried out against them, but it was not until last year, almost four years after their complaint to court, that the IPT confirmed its case. It turned out that they were conducting a secret investigation.
The two-day hearings starting Wednesday in London will be the IPT’s first public hearings on Mr. Bernie and Mr. McCaffrey, but the full truth will be revealed if substantial parts are held behind closed doors. There are concerns that this may not happen.
Mr. McCaffrey said: [surveillance] It’s happening all over the UK. The public has a right to know when police commit misconduct, when they protect a murderer, or when they break the law. It’s not national security. What’s the deal with hiding behind secret hearings and national security issues in the name of open justice and public trust? National security is stopping people from being killed and stopping bombs, but it is not hiding the truth. ”
He said this is a test case for safeguards introduced in 2016 aimed at protecting journalists from police misconduct, but if police do not disclose allegations that journalists or their lawyers cannot dispute. He said that justice would not be served if it could be done.
Mr Bernie said IPT had done a great job so far, but added: I hope that at the end of the day we will be able to learn what happened and understand exactly the scope and level of the operations carried out against us. That’s what we’ve been waiting for for five years. And I hope this hearing is the beginning, or the beginning of the end, of that process and that we get the full truth. ”
Amnesty International said the IPT hearing could be a “test case for press freedom in the UK”, and Open Rights Group described it as groundbreaking.
These human rights groups, along with the Committee to Protect Journalists, Index on Censorship and Reporters Without Borders UK, have signed a joint statement calling on the IPT to ensure “public transparency and accountability”. .
They said: “The use of covert surveillance against journalists who speak truth to power undermines everyone’s right to freedom of expression and information. We are also concerned that journalists are not the only targets of illegal actions by public authorities.
“Police must come clean. Durham Police and the PSNI must reveal the full extent of the covert and intrusive surveillance used to target journalists.”
On Wednesday morning, the National Union of Journalists in Belfast will hand in a letter in support of the pair to PSNI Chief Constable John Boucher, to coincide with the opening of the case in London.
