MI5 breached the human rights of Northern Ireland journalist Vincent Kearney by accessing his telecommunications records in 2006 and 2009.

Confirmation of the breach by the Security Service of Article 8 and Article 10 of the Human Rights Act came at a hearing of the Investigatory Powers Tribunal, which is investigating concerns that police and the security service unlawfully accessed the telephone records of BBC journalists.

Responding to today’s disclosures, Patrick Corrigan, Amnesty International’s Northern Ireland Director, said:

“The disclosure that MI5 has twice trampled human rights law by unlawfully prying into the phone records of a journalist in Northern Ireland is profoundly alarming.

“A journalist’s right to protect their sources is not a luxury, it is the bedrock of a free and fearless press. This is not just about one journalist, it is about the public’s right to know the truth.

“Our courts have already laid bare a troubling pattern: covert and unlawful surveillance of reporters, coupled with a reckless disregard for press freedom by the police. The revelation that MI5 itself has been breaking the law to rifle through journalists’ communications should chill anyone who cares about freedom of the press in the UK.

“What is now urgently required is full transparency, genuine accountability, and an end to this pattern of unlawful intrusion.”

A preliminary hearing of the Investigatory Powers Tribunal in a case involving accusations of unlawful covert surveillance of journalists by the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), MI5 and others took place today at the Royal Courts of Justice in London. The full hearing is due to be heard in November.

Cases have been taken by former BBC journalists Vincent Kearney and Chris Moore and the BBC. The respondents include the Chief Constable of the PSNI, the Metropolitan Police, Durham Constabulary, MI5, Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), and the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.

In December the Tribunal found that the PSNI and the Met broke the law in their covert surveillance operations, in a case brought by journalists Barry McCaffrey and Trevor Birney.

ENDS