UK tribunal set to rule on secret police surveillance of journalists in Northern Ireland
A landmark tribunal in London is set to rule whether secret monitoring of journalists to determine their sources was lawful, following a series of hearings that revealed shocking allegations about police surveillance of two reporters in Northern Ireland. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) calls on the tribunal to complete its investigation quickly and in full transparency, in view of the serious implications the case has for press freedom.
The UK’s Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT) — an independent judicial body which hears complaints about surveillance by public authorities — has been investigating the police’s treatment of two journalists from Northern Ireland, Trevor Birney and Barry McCaffrey, who were arrested in 2018 on suspicion of stealing police documents — arrests that were later ruled unlawful by Northern Ireland’s High Court.
At a four-day hearing from 1-4 October in London’s Royal Courts of Justice, monitored by RSF, the journalists' lawyers argued that police practices — including checking the journalists’ phone records, and arresting them to provoke them to meet their sources – were unlawful, and likely to have a serious, chilling effect on investigative reporting.
"The police practices that have emerged during this tribunal have been deeply shocking, and seriously undermine the freedom of investigative reporters in Northern Ireland to do their job. It is vital that journalists’ are able to protect their sources. This landmark case tests the essential legal safeguards in place for journalists and their sources, and we call on the tribunal to complete its work quickly and in full transparency, so the full extent of covert surveillance of journalists becomes known.
Police surveillance of Birney and McCaffrey followed their work on a documentary, “No Stone Unturned”, which explored apparent collusion between the police and suspected murderers in the 1994 Loughinisland massacre in County Down. It has taken the journalists years to reach the hearings at the IPT, many of which have been held in secret.
The tribunal, presided over by Lord Justice Singh, is expected to issue a ruling before the end of the year. The National Union of Journalists has warned that police surveillance of journalists in Northern Ireland was not an isolated incident. The case of Vincent Kearney, a BBC journalist who may also have been subjected to PSNI surveillance, has already been put to the IPT.
The UK is ranked 23rd out of 180 countries in RSF’s 2024 World Press Freedom Index.
