UK: IFJ and NUJ demand accountability over unlawful surveillance by PSNI

On 25 February, Vincent Kearney, a former BBC journalist and member of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) in the UK and Ireland, attended the opening day of the Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT) hearing at the Royal Courts of Justice in London. He and his former employer, the BBC, are bringing a case against the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), alleging that Mr Kearney was subjected to unlawful surveillance. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has joined its affiliate, the NUJ, in expressing deep concern over the illegal surveillance of journalists in Northern Ireland, and demands accountability to ensure that any abuse of power is punished.

Vincent Kearney, Laura Davison and Séamus Dooley holding 'Journalism Is Not A Crime' signs outside the Royal Courts of Justice. Credit: Jess Hurd/NUJ.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) has admittedthat it illegally obtained phone data from Kearney and created a "profile" on him, which included names of his relatives. These actions, which occurred over an eight-year period, were aimed at identifying his journalistic sources. Kearney was the BBC's Northern Ireland home affairs correspondent at the time.

Among the issues the tribunal is being askedto decide upon are damages, and whether the BBC was also a victim of unlawful interference into journalistic material.

The three-day hearing followed an admissionby the British security service, MI5, that it had illegally obtained communications data from Kearney's phone in 2006 and 2009.

NUJ General Secretary, Laura Davison, said: "Vincent Kearney's case lays bare a deeply troubling pattern of unlawful state surveillance against journalists in the UK. The revelations at yesterday's hearing were shocking. Vincent was treated as a 'suspect' in a crime. Police and security services disregarded his status as a journalist, breached his right to protect sources, and unlawfully accessed his and his family's data. This had a significant impact on Vincent's wellbeing and personal life, his professional reputation, and his ability to do his job - subjecting him to considerable risk as a journalist working in a post-conflict society. The NUJ applauds Vincent and his family for their courage and demands a full public investigation into the surveillance of journalists in Northern Ireland."

IFJ General Secretary Anthony Bellanger added: "Journalists are being surveilled on a global and industrial scale. When sources know that journalists are being monitored, they stop talking. When journalists self-censor to stay safe, the public loses access to the truth. This threatens not only journalistic work, but also press freedom and democracy as a whole. The case of Vincent Kearney shows how the police and security services abused their powers by unlawfully surveilling a journalist and treating him as a 'suspect'. We stand in solidarity with Kearney and demand accountability. These actions cannot go unpunished.