Ireland: Landmark Judement in Tribune Journalist Case

LANDMARK JUDGEMENT IN TRIBUNE JOURNALIST CASE

Irish journalist Susanne Breen, won a landmark case on Thursday (18th June), protecting her right to not divulge her professional sources to the police.

Ms Breen was called before the courts in Belfast in May 2009 after refusing to hand over information regarding her sources about the Real IRA, following their killing of two British soldiers outside Massereene army barracks in Antrim on 7th March 2009. Ms Breen, who is the northern editor of the Sunday Tribune newspaper, received the Real IRA's claim of responsibility for the killings in an interview with the group. When Ms Breen refused to disclose the information she held about her contact with the Real IRA to the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), the PSNI issued a court order against her under the Terrorism Act 2000.

A wide number of organisations, including the Celtic League, wrote to the authorities to complain about the police pressure being exercised against Ms Breen's professional code of conduct, the threat that disclosing the information would have to her life and the general threat to the freedom of expression for the press.

After some deliberation, last week, Judge Tom Burgess ruled that for Ms Breen to give up the material requested of her would be a breach of Ms Breen's right to life under the European Convention on Human Rights, because of the potential threat to her life. Ms Breen said after the case was ruled n her favour:

"The past few months have obviously been very stressfull, I think this action by police should never have been taken. "I think it was a complete waste of time, resources and of taxpayers' money and hopefully the police will learn from this decision and no other journalist will find themselves in the position that I found myself, potentially facing up to five years for doing nothing other than my job."

The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) General Secretary, Jeremy Dear, said:

"The PSNI has failed on this occasion, despite tactics aimed at intimidating the media. "We now hope that the security forces will concentrate on tracking down criminals and those responsible for murder rather than targeting journalists."

Ms Breen is not the first journalist in the north of Ireland to be threatened with jail for their contact with paramilitary forces. Sunday Tribune journalist, Ed Moloney, was similarly faced with a court order by the Royal Ulster Constabulary in the 1990's, for refusing to disclose information, but after a lengthy court battle, Moloney was successful in October 1999 in the High Court in Belfast. Ms Breen's has been the most recent case by the police against a journalist and the first for the PSNI. It was perhaps a mistake to think the PSNI had learned from the lessons of their mpredecessors.

(Article compiled for Celtic News by Rhisiart Tal-e-bot)

J B Moffatt Director of Information Celtic League

21/06/09