Northern Ireland: BBC complaint in police secret surveillance case is a 'step in the right direction'

‘We urge other journalists and media outlets to make complaints to the Tribunal if they are concerned of secret surveillance by the PSNI’ - Patrick Corrigan

Amnesty International and the Committee on the Administration of Justice (CAJ) have welcomed the intervention by the BBC in the Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT) case investigating police surveillance of journalists in Northern Ireland.

Lawyers acting for the BBC have written to the Tribunal about alleged police surveillance of one of its former journalists, Vincent Kearney, who worked on a BBC Spotlight programme about the Police Ombudsman’s Office in 2011.

Mr Kearney believes the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) may have attempted to identify sources of information for the programme.

The IPT is currently examining a complaint by two journalists, Trevor Birney and Barry McCaffrey, who asked it to find out whether police in Northern Ireland used secret surveillance powers against them.

That investigation has already revealed the police deployed covert surveillance on journalists on at least three occasions, in 2011, 2013 and 2018. It has also since been revealed that the police have used secret surveillance powers against lawyers in recent years.

Patrick Corrigan, Amnesty International’s Northern Ireland director, said:

“The BBC’s intervention in the Investigatory Powers Tribunal case investigating police surveillance of journalists in Northern Ireland is a step in the right direction.

“We are extremely concerned that the revelations to date in this case point to a much wider pattern of covert police surveillance of journalists and other human rights defenders.

“We urge other journalists and media outlets to make complaints to the Tribunal if they are concerned of secret surveillance by the PSNI.

“Freedom of the press, including the right to protect sources, is a cornerstone of any rights-respecting society.

“We are determined to get to the bottom of this police spying scandal, to discover how widespread this practice has been and to ensure it never happens again.”

Echoing the call for other journalists to consider complaints to the Tribunal, Daniel Holder, Director of CAJ said:

“This issue of the extent and lawfulness of PSNI surveillance on journalists, lawyers and potentially other members of civil society really needs nailed now. Full accountability for these practices in the recent past is the only way of ensuring they do not continue to happen.”